++ S19 - Blood for Tech ++

Members of King's Voodoo Posse take aim at Cawdor fighters

"Scoop" Yurik, Freelance News-agent
Since arriving in the largely anarchic zones of Subsector 19 only two day-cycles ago, our party has been on alert as the unmistakable sounds of gunfire and battlecries echo in the dusty gloom. We made camp in the runs of an old Imperial chapel - our guides, the gang representatives of the Orlock Iron-Forge Union, are a superstitious lot - and until this evening we had found little of note to report.

All that changed in a matter of seconds, as an autogun round ricocheted off of the chapel's old stonework and neatly disintegrated this reporter's bottle of prized amasec as it sat upon a camp stool. Our Orlock protectors immediately moved to the perimeter of the camp, where their guard, one Liam "the Shootist," a former PDF trooper, announced the beginnings of a major skirmish amongst nearby industrial ruins.

Against the urging of our guides, this reporter and over-eager pictographist picked our way through dozens of meters of rubble-strewn dome floor until we emerged into the midst of a pitched firefight. Through further creeping and careful navigation, we were able to work our way along the outer edges of the conflict, where we discerned the identity of the combatants.

Initial observation via a tele-pict lens revealed that the persistent crusade of Nex Manus Imperator, the Cawdor gang, was still in full swing, and their most recent "infidel heretic" opponents were identified as members of King's Voodoo Posse, a group of Delaque agents with unusually dark complexion. Observations were rudely interrupted as King, the leader of the Delaque gang, was struck directly in the center of mass by a speeding bolt round and collapsed, plunging several meters to the ground. As the bald man fell it was all too apparent that this wound would claim his life, and indeed before this reporter quit the field, the Voodoo Posse had become leaderless.

Despite their loss (or perhaps because their leader had fallen so suddenly) the Voodoo Posse fighters were quick to react, swiftly moving across gantries and amongst ancient metal bulkheads, until they were able to close with their red-hooded antagonists.


Nex Manus Imperator heavy advances through the ruins of a factory yard.

One of the Cawdor, a grim figure clutching an assault-pattern lasgun and perched atop a staggeringly-tall tower, was caught in a burst of stubber fire and plunged, howling in fury and pain, a full three stories to the hard concrete floor of the dome. His moaned prayers of retribution were quickly swallowed up in a rasp of flamer fire courtesy of the second Delaque heavy.

As the struggle continued, the Nex Manus Imperator warriors seemed to gain the upper hand, gradually dispatching no less than three more of the gray-trench-coated Posse. An attempted flanking maneuver by King's Voodoo Posse was thwarted by none other than the Cawdor leader Father Benedictus and juve Pius. In the aftermath of the truly brutal close-quarters melee, Posse juve Get Right was lightly wounded, and Posse ganger Bad Mojo lived up to his moniker as he was expertly downed by Benedictus.

Finally, despite a truly grueling attempt to stand their ground, the Delaques melted into the shadows, leaving behind only spent ammunition casings and the body of their former leader.

Carefully avoiding the attentions of the chanting, victorious Cawdor, this reporter was shocked to realize that this monumental, callous brutality had been exacted for the sake of only a few technological trinkets.

We returned to our camp with Liam, and I soon retired for the evening in the grip of a strange depression at that days events.

Yurik out.