NPCSensation slowly returns to you. Your body is still in pain, but you are no longer on the brink of death. Your wounds have been crudely closed with metal clamps, and your throat is pocked with injector tracks, as though you have been wearing a neck pillow of needles. The one who rendered this first aid to you was certainly not a qualified chirurgeon, someone who would typically be permitted to minister to the person of the illustrious Rogue Trader.
NPC"It looks like you're back with us. I don't know whether to offer my congratulations or commiserations." The scaled xenos looks at you without the slightest deference.
YOU"Thank you for your help."
NPC"I do not want your thanks, humanling. You will earn back every stimulant I spent on you."
NPCAs soon as you stand up, you are seized by a strange sense of unreality. It is as if you are still there, in the wicked darkness, and everything around you is merely a twisted mirage. Doubt seeps into your mind like a poison, sundering its contact with your body. You have to make a deliberate effort to hold onto the thought that you are you.
NPC"What, is your mind maggot giving you trouble? I saw it latch onto your spinal cord when you were being patched up. A fat, well-fed grub it was, with lots of teeth. It's dying now — they have a short lifespan — and that means its poison is especially toxic. You'll lose touch with reality from time to time, and when the mind maggot dies, the final dose of poison will make you think your body is not your body at all. And then your heart will just stop beating."
NPC"I could have pulled that thing out of you, of course, but I thought — why should I? Consider it a guarantee of your gratitude toward me. When you've earned your healing, I'll release you from it." The lipless mouth stretches into a bloodthirsty grin.
YOU"Who are you?"
NPC"I am Malice, and the rabble you see are my Shriekers. We are gladiators, the bleeding meat of the Fatal Thirst's combat arena. We are the beasts who go out there to kill and to die inglorious deaths for the entertainment of the Dark City. And this den is our pleasure ground."
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"
NPCThe snake-like xenos hisses in satisfaction. "Commorragh. The Dark City — the underside of existence, the realm of the Drukhari. You heard of it, humanling?"
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"
NPC"Your begging amused me. It was so... pathetic... and delectable."
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"
NPC"A kind of translucent slug. It is a parasite that can only be found on this side of reality. Mind maggots feed on your memory and they inject toxic hallucinations into your mind to stop you resisting. Drukhari can train these creatures and use them to show their victims devious mirages."
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"
NPC"Kill for me. Go into the Mangled Sector and find a freak called the Commissar — one of your kind — and spill his guts for me. Do that and you will earn my favour. And in the Chasm, that counts for a lot."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"
NPC"A prisoner of the Drukhari who thinks too highly of himself. Instead of dying in the arena without any fuss, he is hiding, gathering other slaves of your race around him, and making pathetic plans to get his revenge. And many of your kind are listening to him — see how few humanling Shriekers there are? They used to all come to me, but now they listen to the Commissar and no longer come."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."
NPC"It's an off-putting place. It's the base of the spire in which we live. Commorragh is stitched together from scraps of various dimensions, and in the Mangled Sector, the seams are starting to rip. Space is collapsing in on itself and entropic radiation is off the scale, spawning all kinds of abominations, and the sector itself is slowly but surely turning into nothing..."
NPC"Some unhinged humanling went there recently. What did they call him? Wersorean? He was old, but strong... and too loud. His visit probably stirred up all the freaks. You should be more careful and quieter than he was."
NPC"You'd have to be insane to set foot in a place like that. Insane, or an outcast like the Commissar, hiding from the hunt... or you."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"
NPC"I don't want to drag my whole gang into the Mangled Sector — the place will kill off three times more fighters than the Commissar's crew will. That means I need to send in an assassin. The Commissar's fighters know my Shriekers. But nobody knows you. And besides, you don't have a choice, which means you'll see it through to the end."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."
NPC"Prove that you're useful first. Do this and Malice will see that you have decent toys to play with. But not before. In the meantime, you can pick something out of the junk pile." Malice gestures at a container half-full of shoddy equipment.
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."
NPC"Bring me his head. And in exchange, I will share my toys with you. They make surviving in Commorragh possible."
NPC"Here, you can have this disobedient thing. It refuses to do what I say, so it will either become meat for the arena or allow you to strike an extra blow against the Commissar."
NPC"And if you think of lying to me and running... When you're on the street, look out for a humanling dressed in red with a cog on his chest and a face full of misery. See how he is dying alone with nobody to help him. Your death will be just the same."
NPC"Serve me well, and I will not set a certain someone on you... There is an arena enthusiast who has acquired a scent beast, ferocious and toothy. Right now, he is trying out his new toy on the refuse near the corpse dump, but soon, he will seek out bigger prey, and you do not want to be it."
end of branch
NPC"Serve me well, and I will not set a certain someone on you... There is an arena enthusiast who has acquired a scent beast, ferocious and toothy. Right now, he is trying out his new toy on the refuse near the corpse dump, but soon, he will seek out bigger prey, and you do not want to be it."continues where this line first appears above
NPC"And if you think of lying to me and running... When you're on the street, look out for a humanling dressed in red with a cog on his chest and a face full of misery. See how he is dying alone with nobody to help him. Your death will be just the same."continues where this line first appears above
NPC"Serve me well, and I will not set a certain someone on you... There is an arena enthusiast who has acquired a scent beast, ferocious and toothy. Right now, he is trying out his new toy on the refuse near the corpse dump, but soon, he will seek out bigger prey, and you do not want to be it."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."
NPC"That's what you think. I'm not even going to punish you for your disobedience — you'll think about it and realise on your own that you won't survive in Commorragh without friends. You need shelter, weapons, a healer. And I need what's sitting on the Commissar's shoulders."
NPC"Bring me his head. And in exchange, I will share my toys with you. They make surviving in Commorragh possible."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
NPC"You'd have to be insane to set foot in a place like that. Insane, or an outcast like the Commissar, hiding from the hunt... or you."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
NPC"As a sign of my favour, I'll give you your slave fighters. They wandered into the den while I was healing you, and called themselves your bodyguards."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
NPC"As a sign of my favour, I'll give you your slave fighter. They wandered into the den while I was healing you, and said they were your bodyguard."
YOU"Who is this Commissar?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"The Mangled Sector? What an off-putting name."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why do you want me to do it?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I'm going to need a more serious weapon."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Very well. I will kill him."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I have no interest in killing anyone for you."continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
NPC"You are a cocky whelp, but feeble like all members of your race. Your cockiness has not got you killed yet, which means you must be someone important. And you might be useful."
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
NPC"Or you can reject my generous offer and look for help elsewhere. Have you heard about that humanling that's always hanging around the gate to the Anatomical Opera, gasping for breath, and begging the Haemonculus to save her? She can't breathe normally, even the way she says her name is funny — J-Jae H-Heyd-hari, as if she's about to suffocate."
YOU"Who are you?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Where am I?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Why did you decide to help me in the end?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What is a mind maggot?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"What do you want from me?"continues where this line first appears above
YOU"Enough talk. Help me up."
NPCThe xenos does not move. "Make no mistake, humanling — just because I saved you, that will not stop me from killing you this very moment. Get yourself up."
NPCAs soon as you stand up, you are seized by a strange sense of unreality. It is as if you are still there, in the wicked darkness, and everything around you is merely a twisted mirage. Doubt seeps into your mind like a poison, sundering its contact with your body. You have to make a deliberate effort to hold onto the thought that you are you.continues where this line first appears above
YOU"I owe you. What is your price?"
NPC"Straight to business — I like it. You truly do owe me, but we will discuss that when you are no longer lying on the floor like a scrap of dead meat."
NPCAs soon as you stand up, you are seized by a strange sense of unreality. It is as if you are still there, in the wicked darkness, and everything around you is merely a twisted mirage. Doubt seeps into your mind like a poison, sundering its contact with your body. You have to make a deliberate effort to hold onto the thought that you are you.continues where this line first appears above
YOU[Wait silently for the xenos to continue]
NPC"Enough lying around. Get up and we will discuss how you are going to pay for your rescue."
NPCAs soon as you stand up, you are seized by a strange sense of unreality. It is as if you are still there, in the wicked darkness, and everything around you is merely a twisted mirage. Doubt seeps into your mind like a poison, sundering its contact with your body. You have to make a deliberate effort to hold onto the thought that you are you.continues where this line first appears above