+++ FEED INTERCEPT ALPHA: OPEN CIRCULATION IN SECTOR H8 AND E-SEC COGITATOR NETWORKS
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+++ Every scummer worth their boots knows you gotta watch your back in the underhive, amirite? But every scummer worth their bullets knows more – it's not just what's happening behind you that you gotta stay sharp for – it's what's happening under your feet, too!
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+++ Your humble reporter will readily admit he took his eye off the vent-viper – there was just so much juicy violence to tattle about here in the Hacked Knee, we didn't clock the war brewing down below until the first rumours of battle drifted up from old Awkton.
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+++ Those of you new to the zone might not have heard of Awkton, a stinky little hellhole a few levels down from here. It's a real sumpside misery of a place, lying as it does at the outdrop of a major refuse pipe that runs all the way down from the toppermost levels of Primus. It's your typical hive bottom trash town - that is, until a few cycles ago, when the worldly belongings of one House Votek came spilling out of the trash pipe.
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+++ House Votek – who they? Details are hard to come by, but word is they're a hivetop dynasty who fell foul of Helmawr's law. The Voteks were ejected from the Spire, and all their stuff got dumped downwards – yeah, all their fancy, pricey stuff, raining down on Awkton. Guess what happened next?
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+++ Even a scrubbed noble house has resources and sway, so it wasn't long before agents of Votek started crawling out of the shadows. But of course, where there's cred-making prospects, there's the Guild, looking to claim their cut. In less time than it takes to skin a rat, the bullets were flying around the sumpsoaked alleys of Awkton.
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+++ Guilder Shelverton enlisted a whole bunch of crews to his payroll, including some of the Hacked Knee's most notorious gangs: the Delaque HUSH CITY SWINDLERS, the Orlock GRIMBRIGHT PIONEERS, and the DREADHOOK WHALERS, last seen lording it over cursed Foulnest. And there were some Sector H8 newcomers in the mix: the Goliath BULLKROKS ad the Eschers known as the BEAUTIFUL BEASTS.
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+++ House Votek hired some of the meanest crews in the sector – again, a mix of Hacked Knee stalwarts and new gangs: the STEELWORKS BROTHERHOOD of House Goliath and the infamous Delaques of the VEILED CARTEL were allied with the Orlock ZONE 2 WRECKING CREW and the thronebothering Cawdors of DIE BARMHERZIGEN SCHWESTERN. And wouldn't you know it, notorious mutie warlord KRASS, once the scourge of Sector H8, re-emerged from wherever he's been holed up.
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+++ It all panned out over one intense, bloody shift cycle. First up, the gangs scrapped to seize control of various critters, rare specimens from House Votek's private menagerie, that were on the loose around Awkton. Kanon Futter of the SCHWESTERN proved an ace shot with his heavy crossbow, blowing up the WHALERS' resident scummer at long range. Elsewhere, the HUSH CITY wytch-creep Big Bertha lived up to her house's stealthy rep, ghosting up and down walls to claim a critter prize with no interference. The GRIMBRIGHTs probably wish they had some of that spidery Delaque tech to get them across gaps between buildings – two of their fighters took leaps of faith which turned into one-way tickets to the dome floor. Ouch!
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+++ In the second wave of violence, gangs were looking to claim various Votek relics, prized pieces of archaeotech, that were strewn around the town. The rogue nobles weren't taking any chances, bolstering the gangs in their employ with heavy-duty muscle, and they easily reclaimed the lost gear, as could be seen in a vicious tunnel fight where BULLKROK Bad Boi Boosty found himself improbably stopped in his tracks by a humble SCHWESTERN juve even as a swarm of bomb rats stymied his gangmates' advance.
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+++ Looking to capitalise on their wins, Votek commanded their crews to carry out a series of hits on Guilder Shelverton and his inner circle of Awkton bigwigs. This decapitation gambit was only partly successful – Abraham Krass fell foul of the stimmed-up fury of BULLKROK Boosty, and Shelverton himself survived. But House Votek landed some telling, bloody blows – the WRECKING CREW's resident Ambot, Handsome Ammy, tore Shelverton's right-hand man to pieces.
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+++ Of course, the question all you scummers are asking is, which gangers maimed their way into the legends of Sector H8? Well here are the names whose violent achievements are sparking the dive bar tattle talk......
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+++ HUSH CITY nacht-ghul Ponzi – if you value your fingers, nose, arms, legs - hell, any body part you care to mention – watch out for this creep's shivver sword!
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+++ SCHWESTERN Kanon Futter – if faith is measured be how many people you blow up, this firebrand deserves to be made a cardinal!
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+++ WRECKNG CREW ambot Handsome Ammy – what this steelhide lug lacks in higher mental functions, it sure mkes up for in sheer lethality!
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+++ Still, let's hope Ammy steers clear of KRASS heavy mutie Gurt, who ripped the circuits out of one of those mechy monsters single handed. Gurt also takes the prize for most loyal ganger – he engaged Bad Boi Boosty in combat long enough for Acolyte Theresa to rush up and set Bootsy and Gurt ablaze with her hand flamer – revenge for the felling of Krass.... May your mutie Emprah bless you, Gurt!
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+++ So, with House Votek having carved out some outlaw turf in the underhive, and the Guild on the back foot, it looks like this war has only just got started... and it's likely to bubble up from Awkton to the Hacked Knee before too long. More blood on the streets of Sector H8 – just what we all want to see! Stay deadly out there, scummers!
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+++FEED INTERCEPT BETA: TRANSCRIPT OF PARTIAL VOX RECORDING BETWEEN UNIDENTIFED PARTIES
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+++From such small holdings, our power can be restored.
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+++What's lost is lost. We'll not rest our heads in the spire again.
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+++Power takes many forms. As does revenge. We still have
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+++FEED INTERRUPT
+++FEED RESUME
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+++They will kneel before us, and not even know it.
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+++What pleasure is there in that?
+++
+++You are impatient. The work of generations lies ahead.
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+++We must become as shadows, as
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+++FEED INTERRUPT
+++FEED RESUME
+++
+++the immediate task. Awkton is ours. Now we move on the levels above.
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+++Yes.
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+++The Guild will resist.
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+++This far down, the Guild can be overcome. Our rise begins here.
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+++In the name of Votek.
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+++FEED TERMINATE