Journey into the Underhive

As the Seneschal and crew prepared to travel downhive in search of a bounty, they were waylaid by one of House Ty's senior armsmen in full uniform of the noble clan. A hooded figure with a tall staff followed him.

"We have an assignment from Lord Ty. You are to escort this agent of the House through the lower levels to the settlement of Toxfall. It is on your route. You will be compensated for your time".

The Seneschal scrutinised him with his one eye. He was no stranger to the attitudes of the scions of noble houses.

"Does Harkathnut know?"

"Could he object if he did?" The Armsman smiled unpleasantly.

The Seneschal grunted, then gestured to the hooded figure. "Who is he, and what's his business?"

The Armsman began to object to the question but the hooded figure stepped forward and held him back with surprising strength.

"Now Lieutenant" he said, quietly but with menace in his voice. "You are asking these men and women to risk their lives to escort me. It is their right to ask".

He turned to the crew. "I am known by many names but you may call me Seigneur de Castres. I am a business agent employed by the Ty family for many decades. When the House's commercial interests are threatened, I make sure that any obstacles are removed".

"An assassin, then?" asked Lyra.

de Castres only smiled in response.

***

The journey downhive was uneventful until they were within a couple of miles of Toxfall. As they approached the tumbledown outskirts of the settlement, the absence of any hive-dwellers became evident and unsettling.

"Something's wrong here" observed the Seneschal.

Moonface clicked and whirred, his only way of communicating. He gestured into the shadows, his enhanced sensory array having detected something.

"Genestealers, I reckon" said the Sarge, the group's most experienced scout.

"Move out" said de Castres. "Now!"

"We'll cover" said the Seneschal to Lyra. "You get him to the gate".

The Seneschal and Moonface took one void pirate each and set off  to find some high ground with firing lanes. Lyra, Father Derriel, and the final crewman escorted de Castres while Ka'gor slipped off ahead of them into the darkness and Qaros Nebir took the flank.

They quickly heard the bark of Nebir's shotgun followed by a muffled cry. The Seneschal picked him up in the scope of his hunting rifle. He had been flattened by a hulking abberrant. "We've got a big'un at my 12" he barked over the commlink, before snapping off a shot which barely slowed the beast. Further left, Moonface's heavy stubber was set up and began to bark in short bursts, felling several Genestealer cultists and their leader at long range as they rushed towards the crew.

Ka'gor's rough voice came across the comms. "We've got a heavy weapon directly beside the east gate, Lyra. Looks like mining equipment. I'm gonna light him up for you" growled the beastman. A moment later a photon flash grenade landed on the gunner's platform, momentarily stunning him. A heavy laser blast quickly came back from the platform though, narrowly missing Ka'gor.

"Copy the position" said Lyra, sprinting forward and tossing an incendiary charge which fell just short of the platform, lighting small fires below it. More shots were exchanged, the beastman's plasma pistol adding to the lightshow outside the east gate, before the mining laser finally dropped him.

The Seneschal had moved up in support, and sniped the cultists coming in behind. However the autogunner who had accompanied him was left behind and ambushed by the aberrant that had taken down Qaros Nebir earlier. His screams filled the comms channel just for a second before he was pulverised by the beast. Derriel muttered a prayer before ducking around the pillar (where he and de Castres were setting a frag trap to cover their rear), and hurled another incendiary charge up at the mining laser, without success.

Moonface and his spotter, Boruss Vyelbane, signalled that they were retreating before being overrun, but the heavy stubber had taken a brutal toll on the cultists. They picked up Nebir, hurt but able to walk, and tracked back to loop around and enter Toxfall from the north gate.

Father Derriel and de Castres had reached the gate now, hunkering down until the township's controlling gang opened up for them. Lyra was climbing up a wall to get close to the mining laser operator, but the Seneschal dropped him at last before running to collect the stunned Ka'gor and drag him to the gate.

At the last moment, a shout from "Two Swords" Jackson, the crewman on Lyra's flank, gave them pause.

"What in the name of the throne is THAT?"

"What do you see, Twoswords?" called Lyra.

"It's got four arms... Claws... So many claws... damn". He hurled an incendiary charge at it point blank and flames once again illuminated the corridors.

"It's a purestrain" shouted Lyra. "Get out of there"
"It's down and on fire" came the reply, with obvious pride.
"You think that'll keep a purestrain down long?" came the reply from the Seneschal over the comm link. "Idiot. RUN!"

Watching the purestrain Genestealer beat out the flames and rise, Twoswords didn't need telling twice. The gates opened and the group followed de Castres inside, battered, bruised and with one pirate lost, but alive.

de Castres smiled.