ACTIVE Plot Thread- Hab 11-817 "Hall of Virtue"

[Commissar Holt]

[Commissar Holt]

"Finally," Holt says, as he produces a small black box from his pocket, pacing before you all.

"As Senior Commissar of this detachment, it is among my privileges to award a personal commendation to those who are conspicuous in their degree of valor, zeal, courage, and dedication to their duty. Though this action was fraught with ugly circumstances, unanswered questions, and other... unpleasantness, there was one among you who transcended these concerns, and acted only with regard to serving their comrades, above and beyond what could reasonably be expected of them."

Holt stops in front of December and produces his commendation.

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"Medicae December Dryden. For your exemplary conduct during this action, your swift and skillful attendance to your comrades livelihood and well being, and for demonstrating qualities exemplary of your station, I hereby award you the Commissar's Commendation."

Holt presses the medal into December's hand, and smiles. "I am sure I am not the only one here grateful for your actions. Many here would not be standing in this room, were it not for you. You should be proud."

Holt steps back, and addresses the group again. "The enemy is cunning and deceitful, yet with the courage and foresight to seek them in dark places, we shall continue to prevail. You do your regiments, and the Guard itself, honor, with your actions. You are dismissed."

"Save for those Commissar Wittmann called, of course," Holt adds. He gives Hera a meaningful look, as well.

[Warsmith Wolf]

[Commissar Cat]

Commissar Yorke regarded the awards with tired bemusement, which he kept to himself, mostly.
His salute had been a little sluggish, his face showing a little of the bewilderment.
However as the senior commissar awarded December, Yorke smiled, and stood up shakily, saluting the medic silently. In brighter mood, he may have applauded, but for now he dedicated a little, simple energy to showing his own appreciation.

Speaking to Holt had already worn through some of that limited energy, and Cat suspected that the upcoming disciplinary talk with the small, requested group was going to rapidly sap the rest. Sitting back down, he discarded the thought and attempted to focus on what he could actually understand.

Cat silently wished his aide had stayed, Vayne was far better at spotting when his CO was about to head off topic or say something mildly inappropriate... Especially now that the commissar was constantly fatigued. Accepting that whatever happened was now his own problem to deal with, Yorke raised his head back up and paid attention to proceedings. Hopefully nothing during this would require him to use both hands.

[Nevaraon]

[Johannes Wyss von Krieg]

Unit #9453/8-316 Stood as the rest, receiving some kind of Medal for the mission.
While the Mission was cerainly not a failure, it was no clear success either. And only victories should be celebrated.

Medals are shining objects, showing the importance of the unit and acting like many glinting marks for an enemy sniper, these metals could be put elsewhere, they have no use on the field: It is not suitable for scouts.
Nevertheless, Unit #9453/8-316 accepted this peculiar artifact and will wear it so long as it will be ordered to and not in combat. After all, refusing a Senior Commissar is not only poor dicipline but also quite rude.

[Techpriest Dave]

Dell looked at the medals with a quizzical expression hidden behind his helm. Glancing back to Holt- now looking away- Dell took each medal and held them to eye level with the lenses of his mask.

Shrugging, Dell placed the two medals in the empty ammo poutches at his waist. Placing his fist to his chest, Dell saluted the- Dells helm lenses flickered between its standard blue and a light red as he twitched slightly. It ended quickly without the skitarius seeming to notice.
Seeing his presence was no-longer required, Dell made to leave the office.

[TheRedauthar]

[Fates End]

Despite her mind running through all the possibilities, and not exactly "caring" about any of them. December still found herself shaking. She'd never been around so many Commissars. Hell, she'd never actually "met" Commissar Holt. Not that this counted as meeting him, she supposed.

And a large part of her was wondering how exactly she'd gotten to this point in her life. Standing in front of a Commissar as he presented medals to the adhoc squad. It also wasn't lost on her that she was likely the first member of the former 19th Siege Regiment to actually receive "any" sort of commendation or medal. And a large part of her wished that her fellows could be there to see it.

It was almost belatedly that she realized Holt had stopped in front of her. After the first medals were given out. Was he going to shoot her? Did Commissars do that? She vaguely recalled old vids about the subject. Grim-faced Commissars dispensing bolt-shells and one-liners in equal measure. Executing traitorous guardsman. Was this the end---?

But instead, he pressed a different medal into her hands. And all she could do ----was exactly what her Watchmaster had taught her. She saluted Holt sharply, and then with an almost belated reaction, returned Cat's salute as well. Finding herself smiling awkwardly under the mask. Heavens, good thing they couldn't see her face. Everything that had happened, and yet she still felt at least the ghost of a supremely stupid smile on her face.

Then it was over, and Croaker was standing in front of her. Standing. In front of her. He said something that she had to play through her mind at least twice before understanding. She nodded her head once, trying and mostly succeeding at quelling the shaking from her nerves. "It was my honor---Croaker." She hazarded. "Hopefully we'll work together again soon." She gave him a salute as well, out of respect at the least. And turned to go, unsure of what to do. But they'd been dismissed. Which meant she could leave. Maybe today really would end well.

((December's gonna beat a hasty retreat unless anyone else needs her in the thread. Anti-Social Krieger is anti-Social))

[DeMarchese]

[blinddeadmcjones]

levi stared blankly at the medals in his hand, before putting them into one his pockets and sweeping his gaze back over the four kriegers. each had wildly different mannerisms that only served to compound his confusion - and by extention his distrust - of the death korps as a whole.

though as he paid attention to #66, he noted that while the contempt he felt towards them was still there, he also pitied the kriegers to an extent - thanks to the questions asked during his drinking with tabitha and sam - being so cripplingly overspecialised towards a singular purpose, incapable of functioning anywhere other than an open battlefield and lacking the means to do anything except react, #66 seemed more like a trained guard dog or a servitor in all but name, they certainly didn't seem human by any stretch of the imagination. and to be forever locked from birth into a vain and futile attempt to pay a debt that could never be repaid, in slones mind he couldn't think of a worse fate

his attention moved towards aesteban and by some strange coincidence they both found themselves staring right into the eyes of the other, similar the kriegers, he felt contempt towards the munitorum official, and could also got a gut feeling that the clerk was planning something, evidently no one has ever told the man he had a bad poker face. in response to this he gave aesteban a faint grin as if to say 'i know what you're up to' and moving to talk to tabitha once more before she left

"hey, congratulations. you made it back along with your squadmates, and got two medals on your first combat mission" he began "before you go i managed to find you a present" reaching into his coat the corporal pulled out a slim leatherbound book with blank pages and handed it to her "to make up for the paper i borrowed on the mission."

[Tabitha Maru]

All in all, Tabitha was surprised. She hadn't expected being awarded a medal for her actions, all things considered she didn't think she had done all that much. But apparently the commissars saw it differently. But even so, she could sort of understand the Eagle Ordinary. But the medallion crimson? All she had done was vomit and all things considered that was one of the more preferable outcomes of the mission comparatively. She certainly didn't deserve that one. Still... she'd hate to seem ungrateful.

As she was dimissed she turned towards Levi as he approached her. At first she smiled a little bit as he complimented her and she looked at the medals in her hand as he mentioned them. But then her face burst into a wide smile as he handed the book to her. An entire book full of blank pages. That was an extraordinary gift! This was way more than she had previously had. She almost bounced of joy and threw her arms around Levi giving him a tight hug. "Thank you so much!", then looked around a bit abashedly at the people around her, most notably the commissars, for stealing time from commissar Wittman's gathering.

Hurrying away from the hall she clutched the book and the medals tightly to her chest. Hear head spinning with ideas with what to begin filling it with.

[Drocol Ritter von Krieg]

Unit #28 looks at the medallions on his palm. ‘New additions to the Dress Uniform I suppose.’ he thought as he pinned the Eagle Ordinary to his Uniform, though he held the Medallion Crimson in his hand a little longer. Thinking of did he really deserve this? He felt as if he was mocking the men and women that have sacrificed their bodies to defend the Imperium from its many enemies. He bore no serious injuries, he was not missing any organs or limbs for that matter.

He slowly places it on his uniform next to the Eagle Ordinary, as it was disrespectful to refuse a Senior Commissars appreciation. It would seem to be, ungrateful in his eyes and to the people around him.

[Commissar Holt]

As you muster out the door, Holt clears his throat.

"Again, thank you all for your discretion, thus far, on this action. I trust you will continue to be discreet. There are still many remaining unknowns, and unknowns are a danger, to all of us."

Holt's optic passes over each of you, in turn. "Be circumspect. Be watchful. There is more of this to come, I assure you, but we will miss it, unless we seek it out. Emperor watch over you all."

With that, those who have not been assigned to stay may pay their respects to St. Agatha and take their leave.

[[And that's all folks! We'll conduct the tribunal in a separate thread.

Thank you all for joining us for this thread! I said I wanted to keep it short and sweet... back in June. I will no longer make promises as to the length of adventures. But it's been a blast!

We had some challenging moments from an RP standpoint in this adventure, and everyone handled them really well. There was a lot of great rp, inventive thinking, and awesome characterization. Well done everyone! It's been a pleasure to run this one with you all.

I'll be posting news about a new thread soon. Also, I'd love to get some feedback from you all, so I'll be posting a poll soon, as well, looking for some thoughts on how we can continue to improve the forum.

Again, it was a blast y'all, thanks so much for joining the game, can't wait for the next one! For The Emperor!

Hera, if you wanna stick around to discuss your little clue with Holt, we can do that in this thread as an epilogue. I know it's a private convo, but, since it's so relevant to the adventure, let's go ahead and make it open to anyone going through this particular story.]]

[Commissar Holt]

Holt admonishes himself, tsk, tsk, tsk'ing his forgetfulness. He'd almost forgotten.

"Corporal Levi," he calls out, loudly, as the Guardsman makes his way out the door, "Stand to."

Holt approaches Levi, looking up into the man's face. Holt's face is expressionless, but there is a glint in his eye.

"Before these proceedings, you referred to Commissar Wittmann as, I believe, a "Cupcake." Is this correct?"

"Yes sir, Commissar, sir." Levi replies.

Holt considers this. "Cupcakes are delicious. What a bright spot in one's day, to have a cupcake, hmm?"

"Yes sir, Commissar, sir." Levi replies.

"You know who could stand to have a cupcake? The Kriegers. They're so serious, they could stand for a bit of levity, eh?"

Holt's face lights up, as if he's suddenly struck by an idea.

"Corporal, since you are a cupcake expert, you're just the Guardsman for this job. It is my belief that every Krieger could use a cupcake. So you're to bake them, and deliver them. One cupcake for every Krieger. That's every Krieger on base. All of them. One cupcake each. Is this assignment clear?"

Holt turns, but then snaps his fingers.

"Oh! Commissar Wittmann! What's your flavor preference?"

"Pink," says Commissar Wittmann, without hesitation, or emotion.

Holt nods. "Pink frosting, fantastic. Best get started, Corporal Levi, there's quite a few Kriegers out there."

[Commissar Holt]

[[And lastly! For those of you who have participated in this adventure, please give yourself an advance on your character sheet, if you're using the FRAK system. If you participated in both plot threads, do two advances. If you're not using FRAK, give yourself an affirming thumbs up in the mirror, ya did it bud, great job.]]

[Warsmith Wolf]

[[Would these be Minor, Significant, or Major Milestones?]]

[Johannes Wyss von Krieg]

[[The ones that give a point to FRAK I believe. Medium maybe? Not sure]]

[Richard]

[[Significant milestone, for both this thread and Stultus. Apologies on those who played in stultus and are just now getting it. To be honest I thought I'd posted it, and it never got on the board. Womp womp!

Chalk it up to me LARP'ing the logistical difficulties of life in the Guard. I'm very method. Trust the process.]]

[Guardsman Samantha Hawke]

[[Thanks for the clarification Richard! And thanks so much for running the plot! I had a blast :)

I got a bit behind so I'll post Hawke's reaction to the medal ceremony in the tribunal thread. See you guys there :D ]]