Helsmarck - Associates

= Bartholomo Grotti - sage = The sage Grotti has been in service to the inquisition for eighty of his 93 years. A gifted student of biology in his youth, Grotti’s skills were called upon by Inquisitor Halgrund as interrogatory aide, and his willingness to brutally mutilate the inquisitor’s subjects was seen as an asset. He also possesses a voracious appetite for information, and as his tenure has continued this has been enhanced by implanted data-banks and a variety of sensory upgrades. Halgrund had considered raising Grotti as his interrogator, but he was denounced and his staff broken up following the disgrace of the Aenid Trials. Grotti was reassigned to work under Inquisitor Maxis, who made us of the savant’s wealth of biological knowledge, and set him to research bio-implants which might block daemonic attacks. Although he was impressed with Grotti’s quick grasp of the subject area, Maxis was perturbed by how eager Grotti was to administer the trial implants himself, and he instead charged his interrogator Helsmarck with the task. When Helsmarck eventually attained the rank of Inquisitor, he requested the aid of the Grotti in his research, and Maxis was more than willing to let him take the sadistic sage as the first member of his own retinue. Grotti has proved his worth countless times in the Hereticus man’s service, though his age and the rigour of his duties have seen him become increasingly frail: after a recent incident in which Grotti lost both his legs fighting alongside Helsmarck, he has been granted a pair of armed servo-skulls for protection, and a leaking anti-grav prosthesis to keep him mobile.

=Profile=

Weapons: Armor: Armoured torso/power plant, bionic arms, robes on arms/head

Equipment: Gun-skull with hand flamer, combat-skull with chainblade

Powers:

Special Abilities: Medic

Khader Amatine - pilot and aide Amatine is a Darinian pilot recruited by Helsmarck after he was assigned him as a guide during the investigation into the sun-cult on Darin. As an expert racer of Darin's solar duneboats, Amatine's skills were essential in crossing the planet's vast deserts to investigate each of the remote religious enclaves under suspicion. Even as the final outpost was found to have belief in the Emperor as the true sun-god, and thus was cleared of suspicion, a mass sacrifice in the capital Parril ushered in a swarm of daemon warriors who began to systematically slaughter the remaining city-dwellers. The inquisitor rallied the planet's beleagued PDF forces and fought to contain and eventually quell the daemonic incursion. Amatine, proudly wearing his Sunfather mask, fought alongside the PDF with a borrowed autorifle (and no shortage of zeal), and his adaptability was recognised by the inquisitor, who drafted him into his staff.

=Profile=

Weapons: Autogun, knife Armor: flak on all locations, closed helm

Equipment:

Powers:

Special Abilities: Quickload, Deadeye Shot (both only apply to Amatine's trusty autogun)

= Wladimir Stratos - bound psyker = Stratos is perhaps Helsmarck’s most successful bound psyker, as his ability can be controlled remotely by the Inquisitor through a Spook-injector attached to Stratos’ neck. He was taken by the Inquisitor from the condemned coven gathered by a fellow witch-hunter, the puritan Streng. Streng had been gathering rogue psykers, Wyrds, and others displaying even a hint of psychic ability, to be burned at a mass trial to honour the day of the Emperor’s Ascension, but the scope of this crusade of harvest meant he was forced to leave his captives in various holding cells along the route, and Helsmarck used his influence to locate one such cell, containing seven branded witches, and guarded by local militia. Posing as a rogue trader, Helsmarck was able to buy the guards’ cooperation, as he took the psykers aboard his own ship and began assessing their uses. Streng, of course, launched a furious investigation into the apparent escape of his prizes, but for now Helsmarck appears unconnected. Of the seven psykers, Stratos showed the most raw talent, and the most control of his abilities. A fearsome pyromancer who also possess some telekinetic ability, Stratos is aware that he is now both a tool for Helsmarck’s will, and a valuable research subject. However, the Inquisitor treats him well when not exploiting his ability, and as a branded witch his opportunities elsewhere are limited to say the least, so Stratos does not contest his current employment: instead, he sees his role alongside the Inquisitor as a central part of his eventual destiny.

=Profile=

Weapons: Armor: Robes on all locations except head

Equipment: Psi-omn

Powers: Fireball, Firestorm, Burning Fist, Molten Fist, Blinding Flash

Special Abilities:

Purrupah Hukh - Olfactor Psykana Purrupah Hukh was born in the Void aboard the tradeship Breath of Hrugh, en route from the Sentinel Sector to the Dalthan Sector. He was birthed as the ship was wracked by a titanic warp-storm, and the geller fields struggled to hold back the grim spirits of the empyrean. This violent start to his life is often blamed for his unusually potent ability as an Olfactor Psykana, or Khukhrin in the Stryxis tongue. He can scent the mind of a psychic over many miles, and distinguish one aura amongst a coven's mixed cerebral fug, an ability which Helsmarck has found great use for since he bought him from his family at the great orbital market around Bastion. Since then, Purrupah has developed a heavily-accented Impgoth, and Helsmarck has learnt enough Stryxis to ensure his instructions are clear, and the xenos has become a valued member of his team.

Maricher Syn - harlequin-dancer

Khalid Eter - hive mercenary =Profile= Weapons: Autopistol, hunting knife (counts as shortsword), armoured gauntlet Armor: Carapace on left arm, bare right arm, closed helm, flak on other locations Equipment: 'Slaught inhaler, 1 clip of dumdums for autopistol Powers: Special Abilities: