(Mission added: Escape the Blood Grounds, Reward 25 XP)

I hardly needed any encouragement! I darted around a container, turning the corner on the beastwomen to break line of sight. And around another, heading in the general direction of the pried open door I had come here in. They were laughing behind me. Eager to chase me. Beastwomen! In 40k? Was that cannon? I thought beastmen were limited to the fantasy franchise. 

I also thought that beastwomen were meant to be docile and gentle. Not eager to chase down and attack a lone target! 

The beastwomen were closing the distance, as I glanced back I spotted one of them turn the corner and spot me, pointing at me and letting out a baying shout but not in any sort of hurry. They seemed to revel in the chance to chase me. Individuals bounding forwards before falling back to the rest of the jeering laughing group. As if this was some sort of game.

As I ran for my life I activated the system and made a purchase in desperation.

(25 XP, Agility: Grants +5 to the Agility characteristic.

Agility Characteristic 22+5=27

Agility aptitude gained

85 XP remaining)

Instantly I shifted my stride. Moving though the pain I bounded forwards pumping my arms and burning though what little energy this body had as I ran from the beastwomen pack. There were shouts of surprise from behind me as I began to take the corners of the container maze with more grace, more care and gradually gaining distance.

I gave a triumphant shout as I left the maze of containers and rushed towards the propped open door. Looking back only long enough to watch two of the Beastwomen furiously sprinting at me now that I had some chance of getting away.

I quickly got onto my hands and knees and shuffled through the entrance to the hallway, under the propped-open door. Backing away from the entrance, I quickly pulled the pouch off of my metal pipe and held it above my head like a club, waiting for one of the beast women to try to crawl through after me. But the pack of them seemed to think better of it, shouting at me through the entrance but not going through, not chasing me here.

I was under little illusion that the only way I had escaped the pack is that they had been toying with me until I had purchased the agility that had allowed me to outrun the group. If I was in a similar situation again the Beastwomen were much less likely to make a game out of chasing me. I shuddered to think about what exactly they intended for me if they did capture me. 

"Coward. Whore," was shouted in English, or I suppose Low Gothic, by the baying beast women. One of them was hitting the door with a club or a spear, but again not crawling through the gap. I had the positional advantage for the moment, but that could change very quickly. It was not a stretch of the imagination to wonder why exactly there were only females in the camp. Simply put, the males had all gone off to battle, I heard, and the females had stayed behind, locking themselves in a small container with whatever weapons they had in case raiders decided to attack the encampments rather than face their warriors in the field of battle. I didn't know if the Beast men had been fighting another tribal basemen, or perhaps other humans, or something else entirely.

Speculation was only so valuable, after all, but it did help me put my thoughts in order. I could only stay here for so long. I still needed food, water, and medical supplies. My foot throbbed, the wound having opened again as I ran, no doubt leaving a trail of bloody footprints all the way here. I didn't know how this tribe was going to react to my presence. If I was worth following, there was much meat on me after all. But I didn't know a thing or two about Baseman Law, worrying about what they did to women.

But then I didn't know much about what Beastmen in 40K were like. Were they a pretty typical reflection of their fantasy counterparts, or were they, like the Aeldari, extremely different in a lot of ways? It wasn't like I had detailed access to a fan Wikipedia or anything.

(Purchasing Lore and knowledge skills disabled until Affinity slots filled. Current Affinities 2/8: Agility, Fieldcraft.)

At the very least that was promising. I hoped that the lore I got from the system was more detailed than one would get from absorbing 40k stories and books.

(Mission accomplished, Escape the Blood Grounds, Reward 25 XP)

The popup was followed by some dismissive shouts in the Beastwomens language and the odd, badly pronounced, insult in low gothic as the hooved women stalked away from the door and back towards their settlement. I felt a wave of tiredness grip me as the adrenaline high from being chased slowly settled and my entire body began to ache once more.

I turned about in the hallway and trudged towards the bathroom, while I had gained experience points and I was back up to 110 I had not gained all that much and had exposed myself to a predictably hostile group. I could only hope that the tribe had lost their battle, or at the very least had suffered enough losses that hunting me down was a very low priority. 

(New Missions available.) 

(Mission Offers:

Bloodletting: Kill a sapient creature

Reward 100XP, +2 Strength, +2 Toughness, Hot blooded trait: May enter a psychotic rage to gain combat bonuses and resistance to damage. +2% alignment)

It was good to know this mission was still available, even if I was still very unsure about the trait it was likely I was going to have to kill something at some point and a boost to strength and toughness was nothing to sniff at.

(Reprisal: Slay at least four Beastkin from the Palefur tribe.

Reward 200 XP, +4 Strength, Berserk Charge trait: Few can stand against you, while charging with the intent to strike a foe in melee you are more resistant to damage and are considered one step up in terms of skill for your melee weapon for the first eight seconds of battle. +4 alignment) 

Now that was interesting, it seemed that missions could give me information I had no way of knowing beforehand. While I had seen that the beastwomen chasing me had pale fur I had no way of knowing that they called their tribe the palefurs. 

(Beastpurge: Purge the beastkin in the warehouse rotunda.

Reward 1000 XP, +5 Willpower, Deny the Mutant trait: You are more resistant to the effects of mutation and in battle against mutants or beastkin your weapon and ballistic characteristics are increased by 10 +5 alignment)

That was a very generous amount of XP for a mission that seemed almost impossible. I was unsure if I could kill one beastman let alone purge the rotunda! This mission might require killing more than just the Palefur tribe too. 

(Come to an understanding: End hostilities with the Palefur tribe without wiping them out.

Reward 150 XP, +5 Fellowship, Training in the Charm skill +2 Alignment.)

I could not even begin to speculate about how I would pull this off.

(Beastlord: Dominate the Palefur tribe, adding them to your warband.

Reward 600 XP, +5 Fellowship, Command training, gain optional mutation offers.)

My warband? Mutation offers? Putting aside the idea of a small woman in rags ‘dominating’ a tribe of violent beastmen I am not sure why I would want a mutation. Running around with Mutations in 40k was just asking for the inquisition to gun you down.

But then, so were tribes of beastmen taking over some Imperial Facility. But there were no Inquisitors hanging around that I knew of. Whatever was happening here things had well and truly broken down. Did that mean that some sort of kill team was on its way to clean up the place? Just how important was this huge storage facility?

I also noted that while I knew about the warehouse rotunda and the fact that this place seems to be a logistical hub of some description. I had not yet completed the mission to discover my current location. I suppose I needed a better idea of where I was then ‘an warehouse’. 

Considering my new missions as I entered the bathroom I took care to untie the rag around my foot, now wet with blood from the reopened wound and cleaned it as well as I could with only the metallic water before binding the foot again with my last ‘clean’ rag. 

If I was in a logistics hub there had to be weapons, medical supplies, food. I just had to find out where these things were located, how did they identify the containers? What system was in place for the everyday functioning of this facility?

I limped over to the little office and began to push the desks over to the doorway. There was no sense taking any chances and there was not a lock on the door for me to use. If the Palefur’s followed me out here, or some other creature caught my scent... Well a blocked doorway would only hold them back for so long if they were dedicated to breaking into the room. I could only stay here for so long before my food and water ran out.

(Mission accomplished, Find a secure location to rest , Reward 50 XP)

The notification popped up as I finished pushing the desks against the door. That left me with 160 XP to spend. I was comfortable with spending at least 40 XP at the moment but I wanted to keep at least 100 saved up in case I had to take the Boon of the belly. A small amount of alignment in order to avoid an infection that could cost me a foot or my life was worth it in my mind. But I would prefer if I could find some medical supplies first to disinfect the wound and avoid all that.

A thought occurred to me and I quickly checked the Boon.

(100 XP, Boon of the belly: Grants +10 Toughness, Your body becomes highly efficient in breaking down food, you can eat almost anything without danger and any food you eat will keep you sated for longer. You no longer suffer the effects of most common illnesses. +5% alignment.)

Was an infection counted as an illness? I let out a frustrated sigh as I had no way of knowing the precise details, nor did I expect the assholes offering me these boons were eager to give me more precise information on how exactly everything worked.

One question I was eager to find out was if ‘training’ stacked. Purchasing some of the affinities offered training as an extra incentive and some of the missions offered the training too. If I purchased charm training and earned charm training in a mission would they stack together? I would assume so. Purchasing Fieldcraft had given me basic survival so logically there must be a more advanced survival skill I could acquire. 

I put aside musings about the system itself and looked at my current purchase options.

(Available Aptitudes 2/8 slots filled:
25 XP, Weapon Skill: Grants +5 to the Weapon Skill characteristic.

25 XP, Ballistic Skill: Grants +5 to the Ballistic Skill characteristic.

25 XP, Strength: Grants +5 to the Strength characteristic.

25 XP, Toughness: Grants +5 to the Toughness characteristic.

25 XP, Intelligence: Grants +5 to the Intelligence characteristic.

25 XP, Perception: Grants +5 to the Perception characteristic.

25 XP, Willpower: Grants +5 to the Willpower characteristic.

25 XP, Fellowship: Grants +5 to the Fellowship characteristic.

40 XP, Offence: Grants +2 to both the Weapon skill and Ballistic Skill Characteristics as well as Low-Tech weapons training.

40 XP, Finesse: Grants +4 to the Agility Characteristic as well as Ambidexterity.

40 XP, Defence: Grants +2 to both the Toughness and Willpower characteristics as well as dodge training.

40 XP, Tech: Grants +4 to the Intelligence Characteristic as well as Tech-Use training

40 XP, Knowledge: Grants +2 to the Intelligence and perception Characteristics as well as Logic training.

40 XP, Leadership: Grants +2 to the Fellowship and Willpower Characteristics as well as Command training.

40 XP, Social: Grants +4 to the Fellowship Characteristic as well as Charm training.

100 XP, Psyker. Become a Conduit for Warp Energies.)

Psyker was the most powerful option here by far. But I was under no illusion that if I selected it that I would suddenly be able to cast spells. I would likely have to unlock them and I was aware that the more powerful a Psyker someone was the more they stood out in the warp. I did not want deamons trying to invade my body. Thank you very much!

Did that make me a deamon for stealing Livia’s body?

Don’t think about it. Move on.

So, Psyker was currently a bad investment. But some of the other affinities could be invaluable. I was very interested in Tech-Use even if there was very little tech I could use right now...

Wait, what about the door keypads? The facility still had power, a lot of it if it was keeping the giant lightbulbs in the rotunda activated. Could getting Tech-Use give me information on how to hack through the keypads? Or dismantle them? There was a hallway out there with a dozen doors that had who knows what goodies hidden away. I could almost taste the loot right now! 

I almost made the purchase then and there but a glance around the room at the discarded documents gave me pause. If I got the Knowledge aptitude it might make reading and deciphering these documents easier. There could be information here about how the Rotunda’s cargo containers were laid out. Perhaps even information about what was in the various containers. That could be invaluable information.

But there were also broken computers and tablets around me. If I knew how to repair them the information might just be on the tablets.

I shook my head and made my choice.

FallQM

Suggestions and feedback are always welcome, if you have any ideas for boons, missions or mutations that would be a great help, they can be tricky to come up with!