WH40K: Kal Jerico, Sinner's Bounty (part twelve)

The plot points and players all seem to have converged on the lake-cavern of Perdition. And yet, we still have more than a third of the book left to go. I'm sure this is because all of the dense plot stuff was saved up for the final act and not because we're going to waste even more time fucking around with tertiary bit-player characters and fights with zero plot relevance than in the first half.

Chapter twenty-four is called "savage alliances." I wasn't aware that the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium had room for non-savage alliances. My eyes have been opened.

Chapter 24: Savage Alliances​

We're back to Slabscale's POV. It occurs to me that Queen Wart might have been a better choice for the mutant perspective. She's the one calling the shots for Team Axchuck, whereas Wart is basically just a halfwitted minion of hers. It's almost like writing the Beatram chapters from the comic relief goliaths' perspectives instead of Beatram's.

Well, anyway.

Slabscale is happy to see that the Cawdor are sealing off most of the cavern entrances. The vast majority of Wart's host has already assembled, so the Perditionites are just sealing off their own escape routes. Slabscale probablyshouldn'tbe pleased about this, but I don't think he's read Sun Tzu so perhaps you can't blame him. Hopefully, Queen Wart will be putting education reform high on her list of priorities. As he watches, Wart rides up to him on an albino dire bat (wait...how big are the lizard mutants? And...they're able to ride a flying...eh, whatever, Tzeench did it) named Abernathy. The bat is named Abernathy. Wart is now my favorite character in Warhammer 40K.

She strikes up conversation with Slabscale, concerning her prospects for expansion and further recruitment in the wake of the coming victory. She mentions having sent him on missions into the deep underhive to try and recruit more of "his kind," which confuses me as they're supposed to be cousins. Earlier, the lizards were said to be a stable-ish abhuman strain, and in his last chapter Slabscale talked about having once been a "hatchling," which implies that he was produced in reptilian fashion from reptilian parents. And...Wart being a normal axchuck would fit her description better, as well as her ability to ride a dire bat. Weird. Maybe she's a cousin by marriage or something. Anyway, it is revealed that she had her batriders chase as many shantytown people into Perdition's walls as possible on purpose. She's hoping to strain their resources and cause unrest within the walls.

So, she's planning a protracted siege? Seems unwise, honestly. Her forces don't seem likely to stay organized and unified for a long waiting period, and those sealed entrances are going to make their supply situation not much better than Perdition's. How many mutants and giant bats and so forth can this one fungus lake feed for any long period? Not that many, I'd think. She hasn't read her Sun Tzu either. Education reforms NOW Wart!

As they speak, Abernathy detects an approaching intruder. Wart and Slabscale demand that they identify themselves, and the newcomer emerges from hiding. It's a cloaked, hooded, and well armed ratskin named Tabbo, for whom Wart has apparently been waiting. The Redemptionist cult and its Cawdor disciples are justifiably loathed by ratskins and mutants alike. She's invited prominant ratskin chieftain Tabbo here to discuss the possibility of not only an alliance against the zealots, but potential nation-building. She intends to take Perdition mostly intact, and to make it her capital. The ratskins could have a place in her kingdom, if they help her build it.

Damn. Queen Wart is actually the most openminded and progressive character in this story. Even if her offer is only 20% sincere, she's the best of the lot.

He considers her offer. Then they start insulting each other and one of his hidden bodyguards throws a knife at Slabscale because, well, you know. Things almost escalate further, and probably would have if everyone present didn't know about Slabscale's regenerative abilities. Wart and Tabbo both talk about how treacherous each other are, with some implications being implied implicitly about Tabbo's tribal confederation being the ones who ousted Amenute's from their ancestral home. Which makes Tabbo the villain of a more interesting story than the one this book is mostly about.

Then ANOTHER weirdo named Kelwin shows up. This is a baseline human (albeit an unusually tall one) who's really pompous and represents some faction from further uphive that's been secretly funding Wart's rise. Elstob's voice acting is really starting to show its limitations, with how few voices get repeated for so many characters. This guy sounds really similar to Beatram, to the point where I thought it *was* Beatram until he named himself. On the other hand, this book has too many fucking characters, so there's no shame in his failure to keep them all sounding distinct. Anyway, Kelwin refuses to say who he represents or why they're funding the mutants when Slabscale asks him, though Wart presumably already knows.

Slabscale knows nothing and does nothing in this chapter. Why is he our POV for this? Any of the other three would have been a better choice.

Anyway, they all posture at each other for a while, and then finally agree and depart. Kelwin says he'll be sticking around the area to make sure his boss' investment was worth it. Tabbo says he'll bring his dudes to talk vassalage and to help complete the siege if Perdition hasn't cracked by the time he gets back. End chapter.


On one hand, humanizing the mutants continues to make the setting richer and more nuanced. On the other, this chapter seems like the intro for a totally different book with totally different protagonists. Slabscale could theoretically rise to the occasion and start being a player in the events a chapter or two later. Though even then I'd find the choice to use him as a (passive) protagonist in this chapter annoying.

Chapter 25: Infiltration
​

As Kal gets a look at Perdition from the inside, he determines that it's especially bad even by underhive standards. Of course it is, Kal, of course it is. He also thinks that it looks like a cross between a trading post and a war camp, which, again, describes at least half of the towns we've seen thus far. I wonder if this is just the author being ridiculous, or its actually supposed to say something about Kal's point of view being a runaway prince out slumming.

It does have more candles and hanging electric lamps all over it than usual, though. So that's something. It's also cleaner and more efficiently run than most places. No garbage in the streets, everything gets thrown out or recycled, etc. I guess this particular branch of House Cawdor is a bit more competent than the guys we met in Two Pumps.

There are also, Kal and Scabs note, some nasty bulwarks set up to fill damaged areas of the outer wall, some of which already have bullet holes in them. Her majesty has been hammering this place for at least a few days already, it seems, though the bat cavalry that chased the shantytowners inside seems be an escalation.

Anyway, the gang are all just doing their best to look inconspicuous. For Gor the minotaur, that means hunching down to look smaller and wearing a helmet-mask he stole off some redemptionist with lots of angel wings and spikes on it to disguise his horns. He's lucky everything in this setting has spikes all over it, it makes situations like this a lot easier. Blending in is also made easier by all the shantytowners and passing-through traders that are now stuck inside the walls and crowding up the streets and bridges. I guess Perdition is less secret than it was built up to be in the earlier chapters; maybe it's just well known in this corner of the underhive, but hasn't yet been talked about further away, being a new town and all.

Attention is called to an old man in a wheelchair moving through the crowd, with sensor antennae all over it, some of which are emitting smoke. I'm pretty sure that's your target who just wheeled right by under your nose, Kal.

Matching my thoughts, Gor assures them that he's confirmed that Zoom made it here faster than expected, and is already present. So, wheelchair guy probably was him, then. Whatever he brought from the guild warehouse raid either hasn't made much of a difference against the besieging mutants in the end, or is awaiting the right moment to be deployed. Kal is also wondering how the hell they're going to get Zoom (alive or dead) out of Perdition. He decides that a boat would be the best option, but...wait, I thought the only body of water here was a lake created by broken pipes overhead, not connected to the main sump? Eh, maybe there's a river connecting them that doesn't have too many waterfalls or sieve passages.

Also, if no one knows what Zoom looks like, how can they prove that its him? Do they have blood samples to check against? Maybe? I don't know how they could have gotten those. Even if he was injured in the raid, how could they tell which blood splatter came from him as opposed to one of his men (or hell, one of their own men, depending on how mobile the fight was)? So yeah, I'm not sure how bounty hunting for a man whose face no one knows in a chaotic society without census data is supposed to work.

Yolanda identifies the only building in Perdition big enough to hide a war rig in, and Kal has Wotan sniff around it in search of that one specific vehicle's scent. Cyberdogs can apparently do that. Whether or not it actually WILL do that, of course, depends on if Nemo is asleep at the wheel this time. By the way, how many cyberdogs are there in the Hive Primus underhive? Only one has been mentioned. You'd think Wotan would make Kal easily identifiable, considering that. Eh, whatever, Tzeench did it. So, the tougher people (Yolanda, Gor, and Wotan) stay on the street outside, ready to respond to threats from outside or to rush in and help, while the sneakier people (Kal, Scabs, and Amenute) infiltrate the structure.

Sneaky Division takes out a couple of guards without raising the alarm, and start poking around. There's a bunch of half-assembled machinery, and - hidden behind some tarp type things - a battered war rig with an open cargo hold, surrounded by empty boxes. Inside of it are some not-yet-emptied boxes. So, Zoom just arrived just hours ahead of them, then, if they still haven't finished unloading. The still-packed boxes contain guns, ammunition, food (including some quality extraplanetary packaged meat, apparently), and drink (including booze). In the very back is a tall, cylindrical case, covered in fancy locks and security systems. This can only be the vessel of the Golden Sack.

Not that Kal knows about that. He just thinks it's a valuable looking thingy and that he should loot it.

Scabs apparently robbed banks before he got into bounty hunting with Kal, so he recognizes the cylinder as a fancy offworld-designed safe. He's not sure if he can get it open or not, but he's willing to try. While he's trying, Yolanda and Gor come inside. Apparently they were afraid of the others ditching them with the loot and/or bounty. This leads to yet another bout of everyone whining at each other. Then, Desolation Zoom, two of his crew, and a bunch of local Cawdors sneak up and get beads on everyone, due to dumb stupid idiot Yolanda not doing her ONE JOB. Granted, Gor is also at fault, but considering that she's a core team member and he's an ally of desperation well...yeah, I'm judging her way more harshly. Kal, ditch Yolanda, recruit Amenute. Anyway, they tripped a silent alarm, and the only reason the Zoomers haven't killed them all before they could even look up from their stupid argument is probably because they're afraid of cooking off the ammunition.

Tense standoff ensues. Zoom, who is back on his feet and in his Mad Max helmet, tells them that if they surrender he might let them live depending on the story they have to tell. Whether this is typical behavior for Zoom or he's being more merciful than usual for fear of setting off the ammunition crates, I couldn't say. We've seen him be ruthless in other situations, but we haven't seen him in a situation where his enemies are at this kind of disadvantage, so who knows.

Anyway, Gor responds to this demand by saying that Master Chief could kick the Emperor's ass, and one of the Zoomers is so enraged by this that he opens up on Gor with a flamethrower.

Well. So much for all that fuel and ammo. And, you know, everyone in the building.

Gor survives with only serious-ish burns due to Kal's very fast reflexes and very good aim. He punctures flamethrower man's fuel tank, killing him in a fireball that...blasts...Kal...away...from it.

-_-

That's not how fire works.

The fireball conveniently incinerates a couple of the Cawdors while leaving Team Jerico unscathed. Which is remarkable, considering that flamethrower guy is supposed to have just jumped out of hiding on the opposite side of them from the other zoomers. Tzeench, you're really giving this sequence of events your all, aren't you? I'll bet you know some big event is going to happen on Necromunda soon and you're just making a bunch of improbable stuff happen in the area before then so you can pretend you caused it.

Amenute and Yolanda vanish somewhere. The others somehow don't get shot immediately by the remaining enemies. The fire suppressant starts spraying, which is way more protective infrastructure than I was expecting the Cawdor to have set up. A nonsensical firefight happens as the fire turns to smoke, and Kal ends up in a duel with Zoom after all their party members disappeared to wherever. End chapter.


That was...pretty lame, all things considered. The bit with the team fighting over the treasure before they'd even gotten it out of the enemy fortress and suffering for it was amusing, but other than that this chapter was all just either boring, dumb, lazily written, or some combination of the above.