Five Parsecs. Campaign Game 17. Ambushed!

Link to previous thrilling instalment

Gallius Marbec leads most of his crew through the underhive. Little do they realise they are being expertly stalked...

"Marbec is here. We must stop him. You two, with me."

"I've sent two troopers to flank and pin him."

Marbec and his crew continue, oblivious to the threat.

Marbec on the right, troopers to the top and left.

The flanking troops open fire.

Incoming!

"Roma!" cries Julio, as his lover goes down!

Marbec and Hezel take cover, while Julio and Chugger charge towards the enemy.

Chugger distracts the enemy with wildly inaccurate fire...

... allowing Julio to flank their position.

Well-drilled, the troopers return fire...

... allowing Chugger to get close!

Without missing a beat, the troopers charge the ogryn.
Who are these guys?

They fight hard- Chugger is lucky to take one down.

With a vicious countermove, the trooper takes Chugger out!

"Just where we want them- neutralise them!"

Hezel goes down to fire from behind!

Julio clears the way as Marbec and new guide
Stazie sprint to the nearest door. 

Marbec looks back only to see the mysterious hunter gun down Julio!

The underhive is getting too hot for Gallius Marbec. He's made a lot of enemies- including these well-equipped mysterious professionals. Chugger shrugs off his wounds, but Hezel ends up in sick bay. Roma wakes up there as well- only to find that Julio, her star cross'd lover, is dead.

Julio Rybeck- betrayed his gang for love
and dreamt of fame as a bounty hunter.
Bled out behind the pipes in Subsector 23-theta.

Postscript:

"Ma'am, Marbec got away but we hit his crew hard."

"Emperor damn you. We were just trying to talk and warn him..."

Five Parsecs. Campaign game 16. Through the forge

It's been a while since I've been able to pursue my Five Parsecs campaign- it's back! A recap of the crew of the Innominate:

Gallius Marbec: Ship's captain who aspires to becoming a Rogue Trader. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?

Gallius Marbec

Lady Heldycryn: Hive noble who wants to see more of the galaxy.

Lady Heldycryn
(recovering in Sick Bay)

Julio Rybeck & Roma Jyan: Once rivals, now lovers hunted by their former gangs.

Julio Rybeck (also Sick Bay)

Roma Jyan

Venda Hezel: Punk tech savant.

Venda Hezel

Chugger: An ogryn who is devoted to the crew after they saved him from slavery.

Chugger

Corvin Akenz: A new member of the crew with a servo-skull that can scout ahead.

Corvin Akenz

Gallius' rag-tag crew have had many escapades both on- and off-world, but are back on Necromunda and have attracted undue interest from many parties. After a savage beating from xenos-tainted insurgents, Gallius hires an underhiver to guide the unwounded back to their ship. Stazie Rendir takes them through the refineries, but the thuggish Forge Guards want to be paid their dues...

Stazie Rendir, underhive guide.

The crew advance through miles of refinery domes.

Corvin's servo-skull detects the rampaging Forge Guards!

Gallius hustles the crew towards a firing position.

Chugger's opening salvo takes out the leader.

The Goliaths are dosed up on frenzon and rush forwards.

The crew take advantage of their opponent's unsubtle tactics.

Melee with the combat-drugged gangers goes in the crew's favour.

Chugger brutally takes down another!

The way seems clear again...

... but more Guards emerge from both flanks.

Point-blank blasting on the right.

Chugger clears the Forge Guards on the left.

Corvin takes out a charging Goliath.

The last enemy is defeated.

The crew, although outnumbered, fought their way through the refinery. The fearsome Goliaths abandoned tactics after dosing up on combat stimms, and were brutally gunned down. Gallius, feeling short-staffed, offers Stazie a position in the team, which she accepts. Roma takes her boss aside to let him know that there is a rebellious undercurrent in the crew, and there has been talk of replacing him as Captain...

Five Parsecs. Campaign Game 15. Death in the sump

INQUISITION CASE FILE 496:35-H:9-THETA-8:EPSILON-23

+ ORDO XENOS +

+ SECURITY PSALM RECOGNISED +

+ PROCEED +

+ My master, Inquisitor Kalot of the Ordo Xenos, continues to work against the genestealer infestation of Hive Primus. We operate outside the knowledge of the local planetary authorities to prevent panic in the hive population. +

+ A local merchant, Gallius Marbec, has come to our attention. His trading misadventures have brought him into contact with the cult both here and on Hydresar X [Noospheric inload links embedded]. The fool has decided to pry further. +

+ Archival pict. Marbec stumbles on cult activity. +

+ Our pict-feeds relay his latest folly deep in the toxic environment of the hive sump. +

+ No enemy in sight, but they know they are near. +

+ One group covers the left. +

+ One group advances through the gunk. +

+ Movement on the right! +

+ The crew reposition in the toxic swamp. +

+ The ogryn blasts one and the other skulks away. +

+ Movement on the left! The cult knows they're here. +

+ Movement ahead! The ogryn and the noble
position to take out a heavy weapon. +

+ Flame envelops their rookie. +

+ The ganger shoots the flamer. +

+ Pistol fire hits Marbec and he stumbles-
the toxic sludge overcome him. +

+ The heavy stubber strikes the ogryn-
weakened by fumes it goes down as well. +

+ A coordinated strike takes down the rest of the crew. +

+ Intelligence suggests that Marbec survived. However, he knows too much and must be eliminated. +

++Thought of the day++

++The reward of tolerance is betrayal.++

+ REPORT ENDS +

Whew! What a nasty firefight! I rolled a toxic environment, which was a great excuse to pull out some gunked up tiles. Stunned figures are at risk, and that was what happened to Gallius and Chugger.

Due to pre-game shenanigans, the hybrids started off board and trickled in randomly with added reinforcements. There were twelve of them in the end, and it felt like a shadowy ambush.

Gallius got lucky- he rolled a 99 for his injury and shrugged it off. Corvin made a mysterious full recovery. Chugger, however, died in the toxic sludge. D-E-D dead.

Gallius Marbec mourns Chugger.

Chugger's greatest hits. In memoriam

Rescued from slavery

His first firefight!

Pounding on squats.

Smashing mutants in the dark.

Blowing apart heretics.

Stomping gang scum.

The Emperor protects!

Just as I was about to draw a sad curtain on this sorry tale, I realised I can use a once-per-campaign imperator ex machina to allow Chugger to miraculously survive! His plot armour was too strong. Dry your cheeks, he's still alive!

So. Phew. I am trying to get to twenty missions. The plot thickens. Will Gallius survive to uncover a nest of genestealers? Will the Ordo Xenos intercept him with extreme prejudice? Is Corvin really that useless, or is he a cult infiltrator?

It does sound like it will end badly! I can hardly wait!