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"True. But I, as a son of Sanguinius, prefer to presentable", he says.

Vensk rises slowly after the stream has passed with loosely held arms out from his sides, his hands unfold as he tilts his head slightly to the side and back, causing a small surge of the liquid around his upper half to drain off and drip quickly down into the small pool by his feet.

He turns to the Blood Angel and gives him a mildly disapproving glare from behind his helmet, clearly unimpressed by his desire to remain clean. "We will be bathing in Tyranid blood by the time we are done Brother, I'm afraid your efforts are for naught."

He then turns and starts walking on through the tunnel with harder strength behind his superhuman steps, effluent still trickling off the edges of his shoulder pads, arms and chest aquila. He activates the powerfield on his power maul with an effortless button press as he holds it at his side, pointing down at and tracing just above the pool of liquid beneath him, still walking. The crackling energies vaporise the liquid coating it, producing small traces of steam.

"Well what will it be brothers? We cant stand around here for all eternity can we?" Gundleif said with a hint of impatience in his otherwise dour tone, he was not keen to show it. But beeing abroad this hive ship made his skin crawl with unease

Umbra kept quiet, remembering with a bitter memory his Brothers that he had once served beside with his old company. He shook off a bitter thought of melancholy and glanced around at his new company; they weren't much, but they were experts in their field. Their armour shone within the dark tunnel with the purple stinking ichor, his re-breather not being able to block out the strench.
he could feel the ichor splashing upon his shaggy hair, and bent down, spattering his camouline cloak from Pacifius Prime. His armour splashed purple.
His brothers were bold and noble, in their shining armour and they were going to get killed for it. To survive was to adapt; not to meet the enemy face to face in the open on their home ground, but to stab them in the back of the throat and sever their head before their body reacted.
He stalked forwards, becoming one with the purple rising swamp.
It was rising...
"We have to move, NOW!" Umbra roared, heaving up the grinning blood angel and pushing him forwards.
"Why, what's so important?" Asked the sergeant.
With a squishing sound, a gaping black maw parted from the ichor splattered bio-wall.
An inhuman scream ululated from within the black pit.

"Raphael, move forwards. Shoot the beast which is awake" Sergeant Nirn moved closer to the stealthy marine, his helmet's eye pieces glowing softly in the relative darkness of the hive ship's disgusting, fleshy interior. "Kill it swiftly, and silently. If the rest of the beasts wake up, we're in for a fight that we may not be able to win - especially as the other monsters on board would be alert to our presence after such a battle." He reached down, taking a frag grenade from his belt. "If needs be, we'll turn that room into a scorched mess...don't miss, brother"

''I can sense it's hollow mind from here brothers. I can draw the warp around it, like a Psychic Bubble if you will, which would cut it's death cries off from the psychic sensors of the Hive. But as soon as i do, the creature will be alerted to our presence so we must have our timing right, so we can silence the creature in both body and mind at the same time. Brother Rapael, can you take the shot? May your precision be true, let us keep our element of surprise a bit long i think.''

"Aye brothers I will take the shot, gimme a moment to line up the shot," Raphael says as he sights down the scope, the tyranids body glowing a bright white against the dark fleshy walls.

"Russ guide your shot brother" Gundelif mumbeld as he readied himself, should his brother somehow miss the shot. And the sharp bite of his sword be needed to fell the insidious beasts that awaited in the chamber that lay before them.

A hollow roar rung from Brother Raphaels muzzle, and flew with the vengeance of the Emperor with it.
Umbra prayed to Saint Yusuf bitterly, hoping to not fight to the death against that monster, lest it call upon the rest of the fleet.
An inhuman screech echoed around the claustrophobic biomassed walls and they seemed to shudder at the fall of their minion.
The sergeant beckoned onwards. "This is our best lead brothers, remember conserve your ammunition"
Oh great, Umbra thought, going into a darkly lit gaping and shifting hole is such a good idea.
Reluctantly, he moved through the small tidal pool of the bio-gunk and into the blackness of the morph, clutching his power sword and just itching to use it.
As the last Marine entered the maw, it morphed shut and the darkness swallowed them whole.

Morr reached out, his augmented mind easily quashing the basic instinct of the tyranid creature before him.

"I have it," he grunted, the effort of isolating the creature from the hive mind showing in his strained tone. "Take the shot brother!"

Raphael sighted down his bolter, making sure of his aim. Finger curling round the trigger he breathed out slowly, and fired.....

Raphael depresses the trigger twice, in quick succession. The thing drops without a sound, and he relaxes. "Its dead brothers, let us move on," he says as he starts walking into the egg room.

"Good shot, allthough you took your time with it. Next time I dare you to get it done with faster, if that wont upset your majesty then" the space wolf grumbels as he walkes after his brother, weapons at the ready as he too draws in the unholy sigths that lay in full vision before them now.

"Now that the threat has passed I recommend we press on brothers. The enemies of the Emperor await their moment of reckoning", Brother Lethos says.

The execution suddenly stopped as the beast dropped dead, It's Psychic Deathrows echoing in his mind as Morr enclosed them in the Psychic Bubble, then scattered it into the Warp.

The Cavern was, well, cavernous. The beast slumped on the floor at the foot a large embryonic sack hanging from the wall, the Warriors Leering Face saw out of it, eyes fierce, but still. It was hibernating until the Hive Mind had need.

''We move brothers, let us not tarry here. Even while dozing the Psyker Creatures mind quests around. Press on Brothers, towards our objective.''

"You dont have to tell me twice wyrd, that thing has more teeth and claws than those damned zealots of the Adeptus Soriatis" Gundleif said as he passed by the hanging embryonic sacks that hang motionless from the walls and roof of the cavern

Brother Morr stepped through the darkness, and Umbra hoped to the God-Emperor that he didn't shine the torch upon that monstrous beast. If it did wake at the presence, they wouldn't leave this claustrophobic cavern alive.
He heard a crunch to his right and spun around, his silver blade coming up hastily as he waited for a snapping jaw to rip open his power armour and turn his brains into soup.
Nothing, he was just a bit jumpy.
He crept forwards and something snapped under him. That was no twig...
He hurtled sideways and his head smashed against the bio-wall, and his helmet smashed open like an egg.
His eyes rolled within his skull and his thoughts were scrambled. He tried to get up and heard a roar.
His head cracked to the side before he could blink.

Ignis looked at the corpse of Umbra, lying face down in the remains of the effluent trickling out of the chamber. A few seconds before hand the marine had stiffened and then fallen. It seemed that the Tenebris Ultores selection procedures were not as rigorous as those of the other characters and the weak-willed marine’s mind had snapped and broken under the pressure of the hive mind all around them. They left his gene-seed uncollected, there was no room for weakness in the Adeptus Astartes.

Solem led them out through a door way that was in some ungodly shape. It led them into a chamber and the marines beheld an awful sight. A tyranid brood mother was whelping beast after beast in preparation for the assault on the system ahead. “Looks like we have a fight on our hands”, muttered Solem. “Yeah, unless we can climb all the way across the chamber without being detected!” Ilin quipped.

*This squad has 2 choices. - 1) To go in guns blazing and fight their way through, eliminating the broodmother. Or 2) To try and climb across the roof of the chamber, requiring a strength test for each marine as well as an initiative test for the beasts below to see if they are noticed*

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Squad Nirn quickly proceeded through the strange pulsing labyrinth of the ship’s interior, heading ever inwards. They reached an intersection and were about to turn the corner when suddenly Haraldson held up a fist, stopping them and waved them into cover. “What is it, brother?” Nirn asked. “I smell something, advancing towards us from ahead the right hand corridor.” The Space Wolf rumbled.

“Morr, any ideas?” Nirn asked.

The Librarian probed with his mind gently. “I count 2 Hive Guard advancing on our position, sergeant. Their path will take them right past our current position.”

“Orders, sergeant?” Raphael asked.

*You have two Hive Guard approaching your position. You may either attack with surprise on your side, or back off down the corridor and hope to remain undetected. If you decide to try stealth it will require the Hive Guard to pass an Initiative test to detect you. They will be at I 3 as Targoth’s stealth expertise gives them a -1 modifier to detecting you.

'Awaiting your command.'

Arthilos would have suggested that they eliminate the creature, but he did not see the point in voicing his opinion. He trusted his brother Marine's choice and would carry out his orders without hesitation, no matter which path they took. He simply went to work on wiping off more grime from his Multimelta while he waited for orders.

Vensk motioned to the squad to crouch near the edge of the chamber stealthily as activated his armour's Vox and reached out for Sergeant Nirn.

"Brother Sergeant, we have reached such a point where the only feasible option seems to command that we begin our purge in earnest. Myself, Brothers Mandel, Lethos, Arthilos, Ignis and.... *COUGH* our fury... will meet this broodmother before us and cleanse it. "

Vensk waited for a reply, and in the meantime initiated a scanning gaze across the chamber for any cover, structural weaknesses, vulnerabilities and potential vectors of attack. "Arthilos." He sharply spoke. "You will need to slay the beast."

"I suspect the best course of action would be to have Brother Ignis and Brother Mandel take the lead, cleansing the smaller Xenos with their holy promethium; myself and Lethos can react to the situation as it develops from behind them."

Gundleif felt his blood begining to boil with the familiar urge to figth and kill, but he suppresed the urge and looked to his squad leader while he slammed a magazine filled with specalist ammonuitin into his bolt pistol.
" Enough of this sneaking about I say, but its your call brother. Do as you see best fit!"

Morr reached to his belt and removed the medium sized snake headed cylinder. Glowing hot runes flared upon the haft as it expanded until it was fully 3/4 the size of Morr himself, the psychic veins running from the haft up to the Cobra's eyes that glowed with Psychic Power, much like Morr's own did at the time.

Morr's tone was dark and resolute. ''Let us snuff out these Xenos, we must not tarry here!''

The tension of sneaking through the hibernation chamber had set an edge to Nirn's need for battle. His sword still crackled gently in his hand, the sound drowned out by the myriad sounds of the hive ship. His cloak made a gentle noise as he stood, following his Librarian brother through the darkness, the readouts on his HUD showing him the status of the marines around him. Suddenly, one of the transponders stopped.

Other team must've experienced difficult, he thought to himself. He reached across his body, and holstered his pistol, reaching towards his vox bead when Solem's voice crackled into his ears. The xenos flesh of the Tyranid space-borne monstrosity caused the Vox to be a little distorted, but Nirn heard what his brother had to say.

"Aye, Brother. The purge begins now. Kill the beast, and we'll see you on the other side" With the last word, he turned to the brothers with him, a quick spin of his sword and a scowl of righteous fury beneath his helmet invisible to his brothers. "We take the Hive Guard, for the Emperor! Move as one brothers. Morr, use your psyker powers, Gundleif, with me in the front! Raphael, introduce to the beasts that stalker of yours. We must move quickly. The death of these monsters will awake the whole hive. We kill everything in our way to the Norn Queen" He turned, both hands on the hilt of his sword, a smile beneath his helmet. When the lumbering xenos came into sight, he would be ready.

Finaly, finaly a chance to bathe in the blood of his foes and to earn glory in the name of Russ! Gundleif flexed his muscels and felt his whole body come alive, every cell screamin with the anticipation of the violence to come.
"I wouldt have it any other way brother! None will survive!"

Squad Nirn prepared their weapons to ambush the Hive Guard. Morr signalled that the Hive Guard were about to round the corner and Haraldson confirmed it, a quick peek showing them advancing side by side through the pulsating corridor. They were tall creatures, easily a match for a marine in height and more heavily built, with impaler cannnons alert and ready. Their carapace was a deep, iridescent blue, shimmering in the bioluminescence of the tunnel, with a softer exoskeleton of yellow covering their limbs. They approached rapidly, nearing the doorway.

*Confirm your plan of attack with each other in the OOC thread, then each PM me with your character’s combat actions. Please tell me if you are attacking the Guard on the left or the right. I will send you a return PM detailing your character’s results to write up in a post.*

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Squad Solem prepared their tactics for assaulting the broodchamber. There was a large, static creature whose function appeared similar to that of the genus of tyranid species with the Imperial designation Tervigon spawning new creatures, which were then cleaned up by tiny carer creatures before departing the chamber to go who knew where. The new gaunts and hormagaunts appeared initially unsteady on their feet, but rapidly grew accustomed to their limbs and forms. Taking out the brood mother quickly would make cleansing this area much easier.

* You are initially facing 5 Hormagaunts, 3 gaunts with fleshborers and the broodmother, which has a similar stat line to a Tervigon, but is immobile. Confirm your plan of attack with each other in the OOC thread, then each PM me with your character’s combat actions. I will send you a return PM detailing your character’s results to write up in a post.*

'Brothers, this chamber is not too large and I will be in ample range to fire my Multimelta without advancing too far. Leave a gap in your line that I can fire through, and I will focus fire on the great beast until it is dead. I have enough fuel to last through a campaign, so that will be of no concern, but you must keep the lesser beasts off me- I can't fire if I have to burden myself with melee.'

Arthilos focuses on his occulobe and autosenses, switching between thermal, visual and infrared to analyse the battlefield well before acting. He scans the bio-signatures of the Tyranids, his HUD matching each to a known Tyranid genus, along with a detailed analysis. Thoughts race through his mind but he adresses them in his usual calm, calculating way, his mind working like a quick conveyor belt.

'I will open fire on your command.'

"I concur with Brother Arthilos. I've seen Multimeltas turn Spartans into so much slag in a single shot. Whatever that massive create is it will be no match for it's bite", the Blood Angel says.

Elysius raised an eyebrow as Venator Umbra dropped, his head impacting with a crunch on an unusual outcrop of Tyranid bio-stone which protruded from one of the walls. The squad stopped and regarded the unusual event with a mixture of surprise and cold acceptance. Marines always died, especially on a suicide mission like this. But for one to merely slip in some bio-filth and smash their cranium apart? It was a waste. Had he been careless, or perhaps a servo-bundle in his armour had malfunctioned and caused him to slip. The others quickly formed up, ready to move out, and Elysius remained for a moment, kneeling over the body. As much as he loathed to abandon a brother in the field, there was nothing more he could do for the dead. He quickly removed all ammunition and grenades from the fallen Marine, for they would do him no good now. He also reverently unbuckled the sheathed power sword from his fallen brother's utility belt, for it would be a travesty to leave such a relic behind. Attaching the weapon to his side, he turned and hurried along the bio-tunnel, quickly catching up with the rest of the kill-team.

Solem at the front, the team advanced through a twisted archway that pulsed and twitched with revolting life. Ahead was an even more repulsive sight. Occupying a large, open chamber, a Brood Mother - entrenched in the very walls of this hellscape - spasmed and roared as it spat out smaller Tyranid creatures. They flopped out of the misshapen womb of their mother, covered in glistening wet bio-sacs that they quickly shredded as the Brood Mother took control of their minds, guiding them to their hooves. The kill-team observed momentarily with disgust and contempt, hidden behind small, fleshy stalagmites. They were concealed for now. There appeared to be a route across the chamber that they could climb, but in Elysius' opinion it was far too risky to bother attempting. Better to utilise the element of surprise while they had that advantage.

“Looks like we have a fight on our hands”, muttered Solem.
“Yeah, unless we can climb all the way across the chamber without being detected!” Lethos quipped.
"Awaiting your command," Arthilos said, with a nod to Solem. The taciturn Marine was evidently a good soldier, but preferred to defer to others. He absent-mindedly began wiping more slop out of the finer recesses in his multi-melta.
Solem voxed their sergeant. "Brother Sergeant, we have reached such a point where the only feasible option seems to command that we begin our purge in earnest. Myself, Brothers Mandel, Lethos, Arthilos, Ignis and..." He paused, coughing slightly, "our fury... will meet this broodmother before us and cleanse it."
Elysius smiled at their appointed leaders' fervour. Their de-facto sergeant began looking around for the best vantage points and cover available, Elysius could tell.
"Arthilos." He sharply spoke. "You will need to slay the beast. I suspect the best course of action would be to have Brother Ignis and Brother Mandel take the lead, cleansing the smaller Xenos with their holy promethium; myself and Lethos can react to the situation as it develops from behind them."
Over the vox came the voice of sergeant Nirn, quick and to the point. "Aye, Brother. The purge begins now. Kill the beast, and we'll see you on the other side."

Nearly a dozen smaller organisms were idling near the monstrosity that spawned them, with more on the way if they didn't act quickly.

'Brothers, this chamber is not too large and I will be in ample range to fire my Multimelta without advancing too far. Leave a gap in your line that I can fire through, and I will focus fire on the great beast until it is dead. I have enough fuel to last through a campaign, so that will be of no concern, but you must keep the lesser beasts off me - I can't fire if I have to burden myself with melee," he explained. He turned to Solem, "I will open fire on your command."
"I concur with Brother Arthilos. I've seen Multimeltas turn Spartans into so much slag in a single shot. Whatever that massive creature is it will be no match for it's bite," concurred the son of Sanguinius.
"I will begin the attack with cleansing prometheum," Elysius confirmed, "Although I recommend brother Mandel conserves his combi-flamer until the situation is more dire. Be sure to swiftly dispatch any beasts that manage to survive holy purgation, lest they reach us. I will sprint to the left and flank them, while the rest remain here to rain down supporting fire. Someone should flank right as well, to cover all angles of attack available to us," he pointed out. While he was always something of a joker, the untimely death of brother Venator was still fresh in his mind and his typical good-humoured nature was currently replaced by a cold determination to make up for the indignity of Umbra's demise.

Varus Rezno had remained silent up until this point. He found no reason to talk, no reason to voice concerns. Brother Solem seemed a capable ad-hoc leader and Renzo was happy enough to follow. Faecal matter dripped from his armour and combi-flamer and he was thankful that the promethium remained uncontaminated, lest it be unusable. As they approached the chamber before them the most peculiar thing occurred. With a sickening crunch, Brother Venator tripped, his skull cracking open on a section of bone, hard as ferrocrete, juttng from the wall. A tragedy. That such a weak minded simpleton, so easily overcome by the Hive Mind would be inducted to the Astartes, never mind the Watch. Such a pitiful waste of geneseed, armour, lost to this wretched hellhole of a ship. VArus watched silently as Elysius stripped the body of ammunition and anything else serviceable, including the power sword at the fallen marine's belt, for which Varus was greatful. To lose such a relic would truly be an abomination.


As they crossed the threshold Renzo recoiled at the putrid sight before him. A birthing creature, a Broodmother, hung from the wall spilling creatures by the dozen. Varus quickly cycled through his memory banks, identifying each creature faster than his HUD could. Termagants, armed with Fleshborers. Dangerous at ranged but their weapons were just powerful enough to compete with his own pistol, and he could easily outranged them with his combi-bolter. The other creatures, Hormagaunts, flexed their scything talons, their powerful legs leaping them around as they warmed up their muscles and nervous systems.
He heard the squad giving directions and organising a plan of attack. Varus listened with intent, nodding slightly, but silently, as he took on board the plan. It was a solid plan.
"Brothers," Varus said, his voice deep and clear, "I will remain beside Brother Arthilos, and defend him from the inevitable counterattack the beast will send his way. Arthilos, I recommend you firstly aim for opening of the birthing sac and then the head. The creature's biology is similar to Tervigons. If you caused enough damage to the womb you may hinder its ability to birth more minions, which will likely double in frequency once the attack begins. Even the fiery wrath of your weapon will not be enough to slay the beast outright, these thrice-damned Xenos are made too resilient for that. Destroy the womb, and then the brain, stop it calling for more support and slay the bastard creature!"

With his opinions, and they were that, simply opinions, said, Renzo racked the slide on his combi-weapon, an unnecessary action but a habit from his earliest days in the Deathwatch, and took his postion beside the Heavy weapon bearer, making sure his knife and pistol were in reach should the enemy come too close. He would not use his flamer just yet, it would be a waste of the limited promethium to do so now.

"I do not think there is much point in trying to stop it from warning the others about where we are. As soon as it feels pain it will alert it's peers about our presence. Just be rid of the creature... unless... is there perhaps another way around the thing? Sometimes, the best path is the one of avoidance", he says. Brother Lethos takes aim at one of the Hormagaunts with a Fleshborer. "On your command, Brother Solem", he says.

"Aye brother, but the sooner it is dead the less chance the Hive Mind has to pinpoint us. The best way would indeed to avoid detection altogether, but those Hormagaunts have razor-sharp sense of smell, hearing, and talons, and I do not wish to be caught on the end of any of those. Besides, Arthilos and his heavy weapon may prove too difficult and noise to move such a way, and the last thing we need is to be caught flat footed by the Tyranid with our biggest weapon out of action, even momentarily."