Wait! It's dangerous out there, take two!

[It will take more than half a day for the Fortuna to get close to the origin of the vortex, will people be doing anything in the meantime?]

GRONK is looking around for the squigs that his genetics lead him to automatically expect on planet surfaces. He carries out his search furtively, sneaking behind whatever shrubs and bushes he may find, hoping to lose Gobsnark.

GRONK quickly wanders off. The others see this plainly but believe GRONK is intentionally running off. Before GRONK knows it (or perhaps doesn't because he is invested in the search for a squig) he is completely lost from the group.

GRONK is slightly put out by losing his friends, but cheered by having lost his minder. He decides to celebrate by splashing around in the water.

[Ill be admiring the local fauna, see if I can find any creatures to get a general idea of how lethal this place is. With my bodyguard by the way]

Take a shuttle to the surface. THEY NEED ME. Tell another shuttle full to follow.

Karitoss goes through internal memory and that of the data-slates he brought with him to find out what devices or organizations could be capable of producing the planet's concealing shroud and the swirling vortex. [Forbidden Lore(Archeotech)]

Joachim rendezvouses with the other councilors and Desilco spots some sort of venison herds scampering about the open fields. [Waiting on a post from Karitoss then I'll proceed with Tristan's exploration on the Fortuna]

GRONK will attempt to take down some of the venison herds.  He hasn't eaten anything for awhile, and is quite hungry.

Indeed, he summons the power of the WAAAGH!, unleashing a roiling shockwave of manifest emotion onto the poor venison.

GRONK cannot run down this variant of venison. He must resort to psychic fury to eat one.

He tries a few more times to catch deer, but ultimately fails and they run away. He then returns to grubbing around for squigs.

GRONK tries to invoke his powers but the venison manage to escape. Happily enough for GRONK a rotund squig casually walks by four meters behind him.

"YAAAAA!" GRONK jumps at the squig, claiming it for himself. He is pleased to have a friendly face with him once more.

The squig gnaws on his face with ferocity but for the Ork this feels like a friendly nibble.

In the meantime Tristan has gotten to within fifty miles of the vortex. The funnel has become so thin where it touches to the planet that it is hardly noticeable (except for the enormous pillar of darkness and light in the sky above). So far there is nothing amiss with the Fortuna but it is up to the helmsmaster to judge whether or not he should go closer.

Desilco is going to take his guards with him and start gathering some samples of the local fauna and see about capturing one of those venison creatures to make a new cloak or something out of

With twenty-five (revised because of modifications to the Fortuna carrying space) guards equipped with lasguns it is a simple task slaying a couple of the royal blue venison from afar. They possess strange bone like armor over their faces rather than antlers, it appears the bone grows out the back of their head above the neck and reaches over the entirety of the creature's face. Each one of these venison are approximately five feet in length and four feet tall from hoof to head.

Desilco stands over the largest of the slain creatures and says that they'll have to make a busy out of its head. The rest can be used for feeding the men aboard the ship and to sell for some easy money.

After his little hunting excursion Desilco reuses they should probably get back to the job at hand and voxes to Joachim "Choirmaster I do believe that the planet is safe enough to bring the ship in and begin some operations. Send a message to the Equinox if you would please to bring the ship inside the static field and to begin deploying men to the lake landing sight. I want to start getting some readings of resources here and to start getting some xenos pelts to sell in the market"

The choirmaster concentrates and sends a message to Novalaz.
"Planet safe, land ship."

Tristan sends a vox message to the Desilco: "Lord-captain, this is helmsman Sky speaking. I have traced the maelstrom to its source and found the site of its touch-down. It appears to weaken as it approaches the ground. Fortuna hasn't reported anything strange as of yet. I plan on returning to the landing sight, though I could be persuaded to steer closer and investigate further. On a side note, I haven't spotted any signs of civilization or sentient life."

Desilco turns away from the game they had killed and voxes to Tristan "If you think it's safe to risk it try and see if there is a good landing zone close to the site. We have the Equinox coming through the static field so hopefully a good augary scan can tell us something."

"Affirmative lord-captain." Tristan first looks for a good clearing to land Fortuna. He wants to get a little closer on foot before risking his pride and joy.

@Tristan: As far as terrain features go you've also witnessed two forests on your way to the northeast and a major river. You have committed to exploring what lies at the source of the darkness but would rather close the distance on foot than by gun-cutter. You easily find a clearing on the open fields forty kilometers from the source. A few kilometers in on foot you spot a spectacular land formation; Suddenly the ground peels up and breaks off from the land around it and sits on the planet like a shallow plate. The edge of the earthen plate looms above the ground creating an enormous entrance into the subterranean layer of the planet. Common sense tells you to peer through your magnoculars to spy on this absolutely insane earthen structure before approaching. Through your magnoculars you can see a small band of humanoids wearing brown hued robes that completely obscure their bodies and faces.

@Desilco, Joachim, Karitoss: The Equinox receives Joachim's telepathic message and moves past the static into the orbit of the planet. Quickly, hundreds of crew members descend onto Desilco's position eager to get a breath of fresh air and the weight of gravity on their shoulders. They spread out and begin shooting down the nearby wildlife and enjoying the lake water.

Desilco enjoys a glass of wine and says to Karitoss "You know this place could make for a nice retreat location when we've just finished some jobs. Nobody knows where it is but us and we could build some nice living arrangements. Of course we still need to worry about the static field"

"Lord-captain, this is helmsman Sky speaking. I have approached the source of the maelstrom on foot and spotted cloaked humanoid figures around a strange planet formation. I can't tell yet whether it's natural or sentient-made, but it appears to be an entrance underground. I'll standby for further observation, it may be to dangerous to approach alone. Sending you coordinates now..."

Tristan does his best to find a concealed location where he can continue to watch the creatures' activity. Particularly, he's interested in if/how many of them pass through the rock formation and if they carry anything such as tools, supplies, or weapons.

Desilco curses under his breath at the news of the robed figures on the planet. He then hands his glass of wine to someone else and voxes to the councilors "Alright everybody vacations over. Helmsman Sky has found us the locals and a strange geographic formation that they are in nearby the source of the maelstrom. Meet up at the landing site so we can head to his position"

Desilco then tells all his guards to stay behind at the landing site to make sure nothing attacks those out foraging. He then gets into one of the transports and helps get it ready to move and voxes over to Tristan

"Helmsman Sky good work we'll be in bound to your position in short order. Do the men seem to be armed and can you see what race they might be? Any descriptions could help us get a better idea of what we're walking into"

The men give out an exasperated sigh at being forced back on board cramped shuttles so soon after getting to stand on solid ground. The camp is packed up and the shuttles take off in Tristan's direction. However, the Fortuna flies faster than any simple shuttle meaning it will take a good deal of time for the Desilco, Karitoss and Joachim to arrive.

On route to Tristan's location GRONK is spotted by one of the crew shuttles. They ask if lord-captain Desilco wishes for GRONK to be retrieved or if they should come back for him at a later date.

Tristan spies on this upturned crust while he waits for the others to arrive. Eventually darkness falls and when it does small groups of garbed humanoids come forth from the subterranean entrance with a few torches at hand. This time their garbed forms bear bulges and uneven corners. This suggests either some sort of equipment is hidden beneath their clothing or worse, that these beings exiting from the ground have some sort of horrible mutations giving them monstrous forms. An hour after nightfall Tristan can hear the faint roars of alien beasts far off in the distance. Will Tristan take any unordinary actions before the other councilors arrive?

Tristan is no coward, but he is sensible enough to know that when it's dark out and alien creatures are roaring off in the distance it's best to not be alone. Tristan hurries back towards Fortuna and looks for potential shelter along the way. If things start looking too dangerous (the roars get uncomfortably close) he will take refuge somewhere.

Tristan hurries back to the Fortuna. Unless a beast of epic proportions emerges the helmsmaster will be safe within the adamantium plating of his gun-cutter. He has a comfortable room setup for himself and passes the night (approximately fifteen hours) without harm. In the early hours of the morning Tristan and the four other crew members of the Fortuna wake up the sound of shuttle thrusters. When they exit the gun-cutter they see the other councilors organizing themselves and the present crew members.

Desilco upon exiting the shuttle gives out the orders for the men to spread out around the landing zone and to setup shooters on the ridges of the geographic formation. He then walks over to Tristan and shakes his hand while he says "Excellent work Master Helmsman. Glad to see you're still alive and healthy. What do you say we go and check out these natives to get an idea of what's going on around here?"

"Always a pleasure. I suggest we approach with caution. Last night I managed to catch a few of the natives walking with torches. This means they are most certainly sentient. On the other hand, the creatures seemed to bulge under their cloaks. It was hard to make out anything more informative from my distance but we could be dealing with dangerous mutants."

"Hm, it is possible they may be members or descendants of Rogue Trader Dhroth crew. We'll get our men lined up along the ridge to provide cover fire if need be. I would ask that my highest officers and advisors join me for our... Negotiations with these unknown beings. It's really a shame GRONK isn't here he'd probably be useful as a nice fat ugly shield to hide behind if the bullets start flying"

"We should really arrange to have GRONK picked up," Karitoss advises, "If the natives turn out benign we wouldn't want to leave them with a surprise ork infestation.

On the topic of the natives, there is a third somewhat optimistic possibility that their strange bodily protrusions are due to cybernetic modifications. If so I might be able to aid in communications, although judging by their use of simple chemical illumination it is highly unlikely.

In any case, they have lived here on this world for Omnissiah knows how long. This means they possess absolute terrain advantage over us, so be prepared to take to the skies if the first contact does not pan out."

"We won't know for sure unless we go say hello. I want Enginseer Karitoss and Choirmaster Hig to come with me to speak to them. Master Helmsman Sky you will be with the Fortuna and ten men to arrive at our position within half a minute should hostilities arise. Hopefully it won't come to it but I'm not willing to take any chances."

Desilco looks between his three councilors for a couple seconds and nods to them. He then says "Right, lets get to it then. Hopefully we'll get to share a drink over success within the hour"

Desilco, Karitoss and Joachim make for the upturned earth while Tristan gets into position to intervene if trouble crops up. The councilors go without guards but with arms and now stand at the very edge of the subterranean entrance (Imagine a bowl on a table but where the underside of the bowl connects with the table there is continued passage into the planet). From the entrance the councilors can see a series of smaller caverns going down into the earth. One of the caverns is significantly wider than the rest and has steps carved out of its base. No living figures can be seen from where you stand (Although considering this "bowl" goes for kilometers in both directions there may be humans in other caverns).

"Shiit... I was hoping they'd show up before we got to this point. I would really prefer we not head down there without any idea what we're dealing with."

Desilco paces around the entrance for a couple seconds thinking before saying. "Do you think we should knock to get their attention or just wait for them to come up to us?"

"Perhaps we should fire our loudest weapons into the sky to get their attention."

Desilco continues pacing around the tunnel before he says to Hig "No that would give off a bad impression." He scratches his head before he goes to the tunnel and shouts down "HELLO!!! IS ANYONE THERE?!?!"

Desilco's shout echoes down the cavern for a half minute and then someone calls back: "EEEEEEEeeeyyyyyy, whose a ralphie topsider?!" The echoing garbles the voice enough that you cannot make out neither whether it is human or otherwise or male or female.

Desilco looks to Karitoss and says "ralphie? Somehow I don't think these people are hostile."

He then turns back to the cave and shouts back "This is Lord Captain Desilco!!! Can we speak to you in person so I don't have to keep shouting?!?!"

The voice calls back: "A Laurd Cattin huh? Well my digga Deesilko get down ere if you want to work out a meetin. Don't be bringin too many brothers though. Get my drift ursafukka?"

Karitoss lets out a long, mechanical sigh, disappointed that the natives are merely uncultured swine. He takes heart in the fact that their kind are often easily manipulated.

"Lord Desilco, the potential dangers of this are clear. They are base enough to not understand deterrence; that we have more men who will swoop in and annihilate them if you are slain. Yet there is also the possibility that they will take one or more of us hostage and use them as leverage to gain the advantage. We can either proceed to meet them while exercising caution or employ some trickery to discern their intent without risking our lives."

"We should annihilate the scum with an orbital bombardment. Who knows what living in such an uncultured world has done to their souls."

In the meantime, Tristan has requested that a three-man squad seek a vantage point and observe whatever proceedings may be ongoing. In the event that the "diplomats" are caught off guard and unable to vox for help, the squad is to notify Fortuna immediate for a swift retaliation.

Desilco bites his lip for a moment then laughs at Joachims puts for the mole people. After a brief moment he says with a smile "I don't think we can ask their ashes what's going on here and who they are. How I do wish for the ability to speak with the dead though"

He then looks at Karitoss and says "I'm not so sure how dangerous we should consider them. Seeing as they don't sound particularly intelligent I doubt they had mechanical implants. I wonder if our initial thought of them being mutants was correct? If that is the case we could threaten them to come to us. After all I doubt they really would recognize anything but a show of strength"

"Strength, hm? A shame we neglected to bring along our greenskin friend then."
Karitoss intones this wistfully, as if this oversight was more tragic than it actually is.
"How would we go about that though. Would we fire our guns and explosives in a dazzling display? Or threaten to make good on the wise blind man's words?"

"If we merely threaten them without any show of our capability I doupt they'll respond. We should probably tell them first and see if they come. If they don't we just fire off a single shot nearby" the last sentence I'd said with a shrug

"The lord captain should vox them with a threat then."

Desilco yells down the hole "You will come to us!!! We mean you no harm we only wish to talk!!! If you don't come to us we will be forced to take extreme measures!!!"

"Oh? What kind a self respectin man threatens wit violence to get some friendly talks? You got an ambush or somethin set up under the radio death waves Mr. laurd Deesilko?"