[Parry attempt: Required 43, rolled a 7!]

The knife flashed down at Cade's leg, but he was prepared for it. Knives were tricky to block with swords, due to their very short length, but Cade somehow, miraculously managed to drive the back of his sword against the back of the knife to shunt the blow aside.

You may now act - I think its the easiest to play this out 1:1

[According to Weasels, melee combat breaks pinning, so Cade is no longer pinned]

Retaliating immediately as he parried, Cade slashed back with his blade at his enemy. Memories of his training in the guard flooded back to him. So many amateurs kept getting mutually wounded as they had fought, as they had neglected an important part of technique-- considering closing an enemy's line of attack. Thus, as Cade struck out at his enemy, he considered this. He did not necessarily need to defeat this foe, though that would be the best possible circumstance. If Cade could survive long enough for Asterius to disarm the trap and join him, then they could overwhelm this enemy safely and securely.

[Guarded Action, and standard attack: Need a 33, rolled a 68]

Unfortunately, Cade's skills at swordsmanship seemed to have gotten a tad rusty, as in his focus on closing his opponent's line of attack, his own swing fell short of his adversary!

Another vicious blow comes from the mercenary.

[Rolled 85 against 38+10 aiming +10 Standard attack]

He misses and his knife hits nothing but the air.

Cade watched the knife cut through air as his own strike did. Still thinking mainly on defense, Cade made a lightning quick cut at his opponent, before bringing his blade back to the defensive!

[Guarded Action, Attack: Need 33, Rolled 12-- hit left leg]

[Roll for damage: 1+3=4, no pen, primitive weapon]

With a fast movement, the mercenary tries to place a lethal hit.

With 53 he scores 1 DoS and 6 damage with 2 Pen on the body location, if not evaded.

[Need 53 to parry, rolled 32 for 2 DoS]

Cade deftly deflected the blow. His defense was solid, he felt, but he noted the rustiness in his offense, as he lashed out with another quick but cautious cut. Hurry up Asterius... He growled in his mind. He would have to devote more time to polishing his close combat skills, he thought. If he survived this.

[Guarded Action, Basic attack, rolled 76 for a miss]

Does Dammek have a clear shot at the enemies on the ground as they retreat?

As they went round a corner, you have no sight on them at all, while the dumpster crashes into the corner.

You do, however see Cade on the rooftop fighting one of the mercenary, both seriously wounded.

Just right now, the mercenary misses with an attack, but you are not sure how much longer Cade can survive this deadly dance of knives.

How far away is the fight on the roof from my current location?

It is not more than 15m

I see Cade valiantly fighting off the attacker on the roof and notice Asterius still fumbling about with the trap at the top of the ladder. Thinking Asterius isn't going to reach Cade in time to help I decide to step in...

[Half action, Hallucination, Focus Power = Opposed willpower test, (WP) 41 + (PR2) 10 + (psyfocus) + 10 = target 61; rolled 35 for 3DoS]

...I shout out to Cade "Get him alive if you can, I wish to 'question' him!"

Suddenly the mercenary shouts out loudly: "I can fly !" and jumps from the roof.On his way down he almost hits Dral and crushes down heavily next to him. Dral is drenched in blood while looking down on him shocked.

> At this point of the storyline, everyone involved still alive gains 200 XP <

Dammek gingerly walks over to the corpse of the mercenary and prods it with his foot. He grimaces, then turns to Dral and says, "Brain... remind me to stay on your good side. If this is your idea of 'getting him alive,' I don't want to see what happens when you try to kill someone."

Ignoring Dral's shocked expression, Dammek bends down and immediately starts searching the body. He checks for any notable equipment and empties the man's pockets with practiced ease; he'd grown used to looting bodies on the battlefield, where any extra supplies could mean the difference between life and death. He barely realizes that most people are horrified by this sort of behavior.

He continues speaking: "The other three guys took off down that end of the alley. They're either long gone by now or setting up another ambush, and we took enough hits this time that I don't fancy our chances in a second shootout. At least we bagged one of them -- hopefully he's got an oath-cog or some other I.D. in his grubby pockets..."

You find the following things on the body:

- a mono knife in has hand

- two frag grenades and one smoke grenade

- two clips of standard ammunition for an autogun

- one dose of stimm and an injector

- photo-sense goggles

- a slide of paper that shows a bag that looks quite like the one Dral found

While searching him, you also find a bery sophisticated tattoo on his left upper arm. It shows a winged blue snake with glowing red eyes.

> Does anyone have any Lore skill regarding War, Military oder Underworld ?<

In the midst of their fierce duel, Cade noticed his opponent suddenly shriek out something about being able to fly and hurl himself off the building. That had been.... unexpected. Not unwelcome, but certainly unexpected. Cade sheathed his sword, drew his las pistol and moved to the edge of the building. Dral. Of course it was the Psyker.

"I appreciate that." Cade called down in a curt tone, noticing Dral investigating the body. He glanced over at where Asterius had been, who would be blocking the ladder down.

[Dammek has Common Lore (IG). Target number 31 (+/- any bonuses/penalties for difficulty); rolled a 79 for 4 DoF.]

Dammek is not interested in the mono-knife, autogun ammunition or photo-sense goggles. He likes to engage enemies at a safe distance rather than charge into close combat, and he'd always favored pistols over cumbersome rifles. His photo-contacts grant him night vision already, so he offers the goggles to anyone who isn't similarly equipped.

The grenades and stimm injector could prove useful to him though. He takes one frag grenade for himself and recommends that the rest of the group divides the remaining grenades among themselves, "in case of emergency." He thinks about taking the stimm, but since Asterius enjoys charging at enemies with a shotgun the Arbitrator probably needs it more

When he sees the photograph of the bag, Dammek remarks, "I guess they were after your bag, Brain. What on Holy Terra is inside that thing? An autogun-armed hit squad just kicked in the front door of the local Magistratum office looking for it, for feth's sake -- it's got to be very important to somebody."

Your CL Test gets +20, which still leaves you kpwith 2 DoF. You know nothing more than that this could be some kind of mercenary symbol.

I stare at body for a moment feeling numb, trying to sort through my thoughts. It was not sight of bloody body at my feet that shocked me as I had seen far worse during my training in the telepathica but the fact that I had caused his death... I had not killed anybody before.

Realising that Dammek is talking to me I shake my head my eyes coming back into focus... "This place could still be dangerous, perhaps we should head back to the magistratums office before we discuss this?"

I wait to see what my colleagues who are trained in combat take before even considering if I will pilfer the corpse looking at it again a slightly odd expression on my face.

You stand there for minutes...it remains calm...

Cade, seeing the trap had finally been disarmed, slid down the ladder. He noticed he was bleeding, and his head was still a little woozy, but he was functional.

"Everyone alright?" He asked. His laspistol was still in hand, because you could never be too careful. He walked over towards his former enemy's corpse. As Dammek offered the goggles, Cade accepted them. Cade could tell from this battle that his close quarter combat was far out of practice. Besides, he was more comfortable with a rifle, and this could be the difference between hitting and not in the future. He also grabbed the other grenade that Dammek had left, but examined them closely.

Hailing from a Forgeworld, Cade was nothing if not a devoted follower of the machine spirit, and he inspected the goggles and grenade for any form of tampering that might prove heretical to the Ommnisiah. Looting the dead body was one thing, but Cade would not dare cause an affront to the Machine Spirit by using his works that had been defiled!

Th items you inspect dont look heretical to you.

They also are in good shape - these men were definitely professional.

Looking down at my blood splattered clothes I reply to Cade "Feeling pretty bruised but none of this blood is mine so I'ill live. You don't look so good though."

Crouching down next to the corpse I pull it's combat knife and test the blade on the bodies armour; realizing it is a lot sharper than mine I take it.

"Dammek, give me a hand carrying this body back to the Magistratums office, perhaps they'll know this tattoo and also direct us to someone in these parts who can patch us up. This ain't the best place to be making plans."

As you head back to the magistratum office, the Captain meets you at the (blasted) door.

"I just first aided my deputy - he will live, but needs a lot of rest during the coming days. Did you get one of them alive ?"