Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Iron Warriors Chaos Lord Gavriel Vrakul, the Unbroken  

The Iron Warriors continued walking through the ruined city, shooting or, preferably, cutting through the occasional Tyranid they came across. Finally, after what seemed hours, something that could be more than just killimg-sport approached them, at a surprising speed for its size. The first to notice it was Brother Rorke, who already started aiming his boltgun.

"Lifeform hadding our direction. Origins unclear, not a Tyranid form, unless it's one of those Gene-stealer Cults, which is unlikely. 78 meters, north-west. Approaching with relatively high speed."

As one, the Iron Warriors raised their weapons, Torador, the sole survivor of Captain Vrakul's Terminator Honour Guard, switched his combi-bolter to its melta, and aimed at the approaching form, before slightly lowering it.

"Astartes. Target bears no Imperial insignia and appears to be substantially different from the False Emperor's followers."

"A servant of the Plague-God. Lower your weapons, but be prepared for anything. If Fulgrim's sons teached us anything, it'd be to trust no one."

The group lowered their weaponry as the Plague Marine came closer to them. Finally, as the bloated Astartes stood before them, Torador spoke.

"You stand before Captain Gavriel Vrakul of the Iron Warriors, Scion of Nurgle. What is your business, and are there any of your kin left?"

'Greetings, brethren of Iron... I am Marus, Plague Chosen of the Glacier Serpents, under the command of my Champion, Karnus and his master, Lord Kraxis the Allchosen... Four of us came here to investigate the area before the Tyranids devour it all, but the Hive Fleet shut off the Thunderhawk's extraction route...'

'I and my squad are here with two goals now that the 'investigation' has been aborted... Our first was to make our way to the spaceport and leave the planet, but we found a squad of loyalist Space Marines in the city and we have shifted priorities to their destruction...'

Marus coughs heavily, a bunch of writhing maggots dropping to the ground from his back armour.

'They have Terminator armour, and my squad's weaponry is mainly bolters and chainswords... Your heavier weapons may prove necessary to deal with them...'

Marus lifts one of his massive arms and points to a large tower in the distance.

'My squad is headed there... Come...'

The inquisition has arrived...

Through the dust and ruined buildings strides a solitary figure, his bulky armor, once gleaming gold, now tarnished and dark. He pulls the hood of his dark red cape closer to his face, coughing in the slowly polluting air. He brings a com to his mouth and speaks. This world has been overtaken. The great devourer crawls over every inch ofthis world, and it is not alone... Xenos and the infection of chaos have both reached this planet... The only option left is... Exterminatus... Estimated time until arrival... Forty eight Terran hours. I will attempt to escape this world with my battleship at the space docks, and prevent the escape of the heretics... Inquisitor Tiberius out. Ave Imperitor... He clicked off his coms and looks to the sky, it's going to be a long night...

"Exterminatus?", Grigi asked. The Stormtroopers had stopped right in their tracks in the middle of the large road. Joen Tross almost immediately turned on his communicator. Though he could not access the exact frequency the Inquisitor had made his transmission on he used a general Imperial frequency to try and get a hold of him. "Inquisitor Tiberius, this is Sergeant Tross of the 98th Visigian Jaegers. We request you delay the Exterminatus. We are under orders from Inquisitor Corel Harland to deliver a piece of important technology to him. It's a mission of great importance to the Imperium!", the Sergeant said. "I didn't even know there was an Inquisitor here", Susa said. "Of course you didn't. It's in the Inquisition. It's their job to make everything as secretive as possible", Klipp replied. "I thought their job was to make everything as difficult as possible", Grigi retorted. "No, that is the scared and sole charge of the Mechanicus", Klipp quipped.

The Tall man clears his throat and begins to speak, slowly readying a bolt pistol as he does. *Ahem* Greetings Sargent Tross. I am afraid you have been charged with stealing imperial property for your own use. You may now accept the Emperor's mercy. Fear not, if this technology you speak of is so important, it shall be safer in my hands.

Tross turns around to meet the Inquisitor. Underneath his damaged helmet the human furrows his brow. His left hand rests on the grip of his holstered pistol. "Stealing Imperial property...? Our mission is sanctioned by the Inquisition itself. Surely that allows to obtain some water without filling out the requisition forms", Tross said. The other Storm Troopers grip their rifles a little tighter.

"Avicus, lukas, I want full speed to that armoury!"
*the three begin to sprint*

Iron Warriors Chaos Lord Gavriel Vrakul, the Unbroken

Company Captain Gavriel nodded at the Glacier Serpents' Plague Marine spoke, and smashed his armoured fist against his breastplate as a form of greeting.

"We are in a situation akin to yours, brother. We, too, were here, though for reasons I may not say to anyone not of the Grand Company, and have lost contact with any other forces on the planet, or in orbit."

He grunted as Marius began speaking of loyalists. Loyalists, they called themselves. He watched the Plague Marine cough up maggots - the servant of Nurgle undoubtedly pleased with such an "ability" - and stepped on them with his boot.

"Loyalists. Lead the way then, brother. We will be able to tear through their armor. We have not yet used our Bolter's melta-round, nor any of our explosives. My power axe and Torador's power fist will prove to be more than capable to tear them apart. Lead the way then, Marus, and let us destroy this Loyalist filth."

Marus simply nods and bows- for while the Iron Warrior is not from his warband, the Glacier Serpents have a certain kind of honour and the Iron Warrior does rank above him- and starts running, adjusting his pace to suit the Terminator-armoured warriors.

'You can't climb in that armour, so we will need to find another way up...'

He looks around and finds a building with intact and solid stairs. Once he finds it, he points at it.

'This way, Iron brethren...'

The Inquisitor spoke once more. Theft is theft. And theft is punishable with death. Now put down your weapon and die with honor. He drew his power sword, energy sparking off it. I will NOT ask again.

*Back at Ry'leth*

*Annoyed at the silence from his coms, Ry'leth moves down out of the building, Carrying a large sack on his back.
Here is the food I promised.... We can return to your allies.

*At the pathfinder*

Oh! It's you! You scared me. But you know... I still owe you for the iho stick...

Iron Warriors 7th grand company Varo's Kane

Varos pulled himself from the wreckage of his thunderhawk looking around for any supplies he could scavenge finding his axe and combi-bolter, he heard a shifting noise coming from the rear of the craft. cautiously moving to the sound he sees 2 of his fellow brothers assisting a third brother trapped under a fallen bulkhead. he rushed over and managed to pull brother sergeant Marius from the wreckage. the other 2 survivors were cestus rovan his second in command leader of his command terminator squad and another marine carrying a plasma gun.

they moved out of the wreckage cautiously. sergeant Marius turned to his warsmith 'sir i have detected a vox signal coming from what appears to be elements of another Iron warriors company and some followers of the plague god approximately 100 metres from our position.

they set off at a run towards their brothers' position.

V'sari gave a long deep breath. "If it's fuel your looking for, I'm afraid we have none to spare. Half of our XV8's are out of fuel, and the rest are on reserves." The phrasing of the Tau sub-commander was intentional. With nobody to trust in this desolate, infested ruin except the remains of her own force, it was best to be cautious and make them seem larger than they were with a simple bluff.

As V'sari talked, she watched another text report come in, detailing the Astartes movements, and their movements towards what was likely an armory. That thought was interrupted by the explosion. After a few seconds more, A'kali sent more text asking for orders. Not willing to risk her best scout available, V'sari texted the stealth suit to regroup with them.

"There is a surviving com tower not far from th--" TheTau battlesuit pilot cut her words off with the 'Lord' as she'd rounded the corner to come within sight of more humans. While armored they were definitely not Astartes, particularly the one wearing power armor and readying a weapon in the direction of the other guardsmen. With practiced instinct, she raised her weapons, but didn't open fire or begin to charge her guns. V'sari only hoped they would be... reasonable.

Sergeant Tross fell silent for a moment or two. After what seemed like an eternity for his men his helmet once more crackled. "Inquisitor Tiberius, while I understand and accept these charges my mission is clear. I must deliver the device to Inquisitor Harland at all costs. If you seek to interfere with this sanctioned quest than I have only one course of action. Fire at will", he said with an almost robotic tone. His rifleman open up on the Inquisitor with all of their weaponry. A hail of armor piercing rounds come towards the Inquisitor. The Jaegers do not notice the stealth suits observing

*merric punches through the thick steel plates of the armoury door, and carves a large hole with his lightning claw*
the inside of the armoury is dimly lit, and a half dozen racks stand full of weapons.
The armoury had been used by local PDF, guardsmen and even visiting astartes.
Las-guns, auto-guns, bolters, plasma/meltas, SniPer rifles, power swords and fists. and q fortress worth of ammo. 5 wrist mounted stormbolters ( although the three don't know it, they were left long ago by grey knghts)
And even....
{merric} "Avicus, do you want it, or should I?"
{Avicus}" sire, honestly, I would say you should."
{merric} "agreed."
{lukas} "one of these each, also." *he hands out the stormbolters*
*merric reviews the rescent communiques between the guardsman officer and the inquisitor*
"Lets go!"

*the three terminators exit, Avicus now armed with 2 lightning claws and a stormbolter, lukas with thunder hammer stormsheild and a stormbolter, and merric weilding a power sword, stormbolter, and a dark angels terminator-plasma-cannon.*

Varos kicked down the thin wall in front of him clearing a path straight to the moving iron warriors and glacier serpents. he announced that he was here planning the start of an iron warriors siege on he main fortress complex when news of the hive fleets arrival came they attempted to return to their waiting cruiser in orbit but were knocked out if the sky by an inbound spore mine. ' we wish to be off this planet and once we find a craft capable of letting us do that our ship will come out of hiding behind the planets moon to evacuate us.maybe it would be more favourable if we made our way to one together?'

Iron Warriors Chaos Lord Gavriel Vrakul, the Unbroken

The band of Iron Warriors followed the Glacier Serpent Plague Marine, until they finally found a building with intact stairs. With the Glacier Serpent, they climbed the stairway. When they walked out of it, a wall was knocked down, and within an instance, the Iron Warriors had all readied their weapons, and aimed at the spot where the wall had just been knocked down. Seeing that the men that came through the hole were Iron Warriors, they all lowered their weapons, but held them at the ready - competition was fierce within the Legion, and during the evacuation of a planet, unfortunate accidents could happen... They listened to the man, a Warsmith, apparently, explain himself. Company Captain Gavriel nodded.

"That would be best, Warsmith. Brother Marus of the Glacier Serpents here was leading us to join with his squad, who are heading out to destroy a squad of Loyalists, before going off-planet. We should start moving again, preferably now."

'we will help track them down death to the followers of the false emperor!' Varo's said loudly.
brothe marius he turned to his sergeant have your man go on a scouting mission to our left flank and look for the imperials

Marus turns around and nods again.

'We must make haste, for there is little time... I recommend that you minimise vox usage to avoid the risk of eavesdropping...'

He continues swiftly up the stairs until he reaches the top of the building, and then indicates for the Iron Warriors to follow as he moves over the ruins from roof to roof.

Varo's nods to his new found allies we will move through the lower floors to cover more search ground use voxes sparingly as we dont want to tip off any undesireable foes getting our signal.

The lone iron warrior moved silently through the streets making careful not to alert a nearby nest of tyranids. He passed by something interesting on his way a rhino transport crashed into some rubble he looked around it for sometime coming to the conclusion that all it needed was a new set of tracks. if only there were a vehicle depot or other tank with spare parts lying around. he knew he couldnt vox back to his commander so he decided to look for himself..

(Lith)

The earth shook with each step as the Tactical Dreadnaughts plowed their way from the weapons cash. She had stalked them here, the towering half destroyed buildings channeled Vox readings into ghosts and half glimpses making her almost untraceable. The Tau, adept as he was, even he tread to heavily, wary he might alert the Astartes she left him with instructions to keep his Rifle on Terminator with the Lightning claws while she enacted her plan.

They where directly below her now, sweeping weapons along every direction, every angle and side street. Every angle, except up. Several small pellets dinged off of the TDA of the Marines, they looked up in unison at the single, half naked Xenos Wych who was waving seductively at them.

''Hello boys''

The haywire grenades exploded in a shower of purple energy which arced up each Marines armour, plates locked up and joints stiffened at once as the power was overloaded. She sprang downwards, catlike, as she landed upon the Thunderhammer carrying Marine's head and angled her knife above a joint in the Terminators Neck.

''hush now you plodding primates, all i ask for are the codes and directions to the nearest space port and any transport you may have. Otherwise your friend here could be in a sticky situation...''

(Koth)

''Good, we shall head locate them now. Hopefully your pathfinders little 'cultural exchange' has gone as well as ours had.''

He flipped his gauntlet open to reveal a small green screen inscribed with alien symbols.

''Ah, this way, the Wych seems to have your friend with her as well. I hope she hasn't got into trouble...''

He began towards Lith's location, food sack and klaive firmly packed upon his back.

Through a particularly dilapidated section of the webway; one that had collapsed, reformed and collapsed many times over, a Harlequin troupe of seven with a farseer struggled to forge a path. The farseer had seen a terrible vision; another fall of the eldar but one that could be prevented. Out of all the possible futures, she saw only one potential way to avert catastrophe - to group up with this Harlequin troupe and to lead them to where they were needed. Only they could get through the webway to the planet, and only they had the potential to succeed.

It had taken time, effort and skill to make it through the webway and even then it was not enough; only three of their original number made it through to step foot onto this fated planet:
The troupe master Argentmun himself, the farseer Laurella and the troupe master's closest companion the Deathjester Jaraxuis.

Laurella studied her surroundings and spoke, "This is the planet and we must move swiftly. If even one soul makes it off this planet, including ours, our species will become extinct."

Argentmun nodded, "Lead onwards."

Laurella sprinted off, "Follow me, there is but one port left on this planet with space-worthy craft and others are heading there too."

Jaraxuis hefted his weapon and simply smiled behind his mask. He was finally getting to the part he liked.

*lukas and merric share a glance*
{merric}"xeno, I should have you know-"
* merric kicks lukas hard in the chest, and he flies back, smashing the wych into a wall*
"-that YOU DIE HERE!"
*the Plasma cannon activates*

(Lith)

Well, she didn't expect that. She rolled with the impact aginst the wall before looking back to see and hear the whine of the cataclysmic plasma cannon. She dirved for all she was worth, but it wasn't enough. Any other weapon, she might of evaded but as the ball of super heated plasma exploded against the wall where she once was, the plasmic residue and heat pressed outwards from the initial impact with the wall raging at Lith's back and Legs. She hit the ground hrd and could do nothing to break her fall, her back and legs where burned to badly for use.

''Oaf!! Never trust a Mon'Keig to be civil,'' She screiked shrillly, hoping that her indigent screeching would blot out the massive amount of pain. It didn't help. The Terminators looked at her cooly through glass eyes, unperturbed.

(Koth & Kilian)

Xilian met up with Koth and his ally on the way there and began towards Lith. They quickly transversed broken streets and building towards the winking light of the Wych on Koth's arm screen. Xilian felt it before it happened, she could feel the air take on a different tone as it ionized and the shrieking whine of the plasma cannon all before the rocking detonation.

They exchanged looks, and began to sprint as Xilian activated her shadowfield.

*merric took a step forward, and his boot raised over the xeno head, poised to crush it*'

Lith smiled, she had been here before. She had already been killed twice on the arena sands and once by a hulking Tyranid Bioform, said offenders now sit in supervention on her wall. She would be back, and as they say, Hell Hath No Fury...

The boot came down and Lith's slender arm reached up, splinter pistol in hand as she aimed for the connecting joint between crotch and leg where armour gave way to the black carapace underneath.. Under the colossal weight her head gave no resistance, it simply popped apart in a spray of blood. If it was vindictive spite or the death spasm which made her trigger figure twitch none can say, but all we know is that she died smiling as the virulently poison rounds left the barrel.

"BITCH!"
*the poisons are quickly defused by his astartes immune system, but by the emperor it hurts*
*merric stomps on the body again, spurting blood all over*
"BITCH!" he yelled again.

The Eldar trio flitted between cover to cover as they moved inexorably onwards towards the infested Space-port. Carried on the wind they faintly heard two consecutive shouts of rage in the distance, "BITCH!" "BITCH!". Despite hearing that they didn't even break stride, but it made Laurella think; a Farseer, Death jester and Troupe master weren't much at all in comparison to the forces that were arrayed against them and yet so much rested on their shoulders.

When they came to a crossroads, Laurella called a stop and spoke quietly to the others, "The Space-port is just ahead; keep going and you'll come to the perimeter. Do not enter, for it's currently infested with genestealers and they will assist us in our mission. Set up around the perimeter and make sure no-one gains entry. I will attempt to garner support for our cause but if I do not return, do not look for me; look only to the mission."

Jaraxius simply nodded and strolled onwards for he had never seen the point in farewells; all would see each other again in the clutches of Death. As Jaraxius walked off, Argentmun paused a moment to say, "Dance well fair Farseer, you have done your job well and may Cegorach help you to continue further."

Laurella smiled, clapped him on the shoulder and then responded, "I thank you for the support both you and your troupe have given me. Now go! Defend the port!"

With one last look back, Argentmun sprinted off to join Jaraxius, who had taken position in some cover in the street ahead. Laurella watched them go and then opened her mind to her surroundings. She had never been a particularly adept warrior or powerful psyker but she had always had excellent senses and precognitive abilities. She felt many other beings in her general vicinity; followers of chaos whose minds were anathema to her, many Monkeigh both normal and altered, even some members of their dark brethren. She searched, searched for any who could help her cause.

There it was! There was the being she wanted, no, needed, to meet. One particular Monkeigh with the power to complete her mission here and now. He was close and she had to find him and find him soon.

Iron Warriors Chaos Lord Gavriel Vrakul, the Unbroken

The Iron Warriors patiently followed Brother Marus, eager to find the hated "loyalists", and to get rid of them.

"How far are we exactly from your comrades, Glacier Serpent? We have to be quick."

'Not far away, Iron Brethren... Six-seven minutes of running should be all we need...'

Marus continues running across the roof, each thundering step cracking the rockcrete surface.

Xilian and Koth had sprinted towards the scene but Koth stopped them before they rounded the corner. He peered round. She was dead, no doubt about it. He hoped she had contacts with the Haemonculi, she looked like she would need it. Koth turned to Xilian and swayed his head, she knew the meaning. She looked round the corner, setting the calculations.

They where to well armed and armoured, she could give them that. Yes, if they made it into combat range she and her bodyguard would have a distinct advantage, being far, far faster and with their own weapons that could punch though their armour. But not now. She smelt something on the wind. A sickly sweet aroma of soft perfume and scented oils, but they where exotic, different then even she had smelled. These were the smells of the Eldar, not just any Eldar, but the Choral Players of Cegorarch.

She turned and mentioned Koth towards the Space port, now just a street away. If other Eldar where here, they would have access to a Webway portal. She stopped mid stride, still hearing the squishing and squelching as the Astartes relieved his anger. She turned on the heal and aimed her Blast Pistol to the towering building held up precariously by a few supporting beams, the rest having been trampled by something she'd rather not meet. She fired, a shaft of darklight flashed between the distance as the support beams simply vanished into atoms.

She turned and skipped off to join Koth, the brick dust bellowing behind her and the lurch of abused brickwork cracking and collapsing filled her ears.