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There was open hostility amongst the Karukians at the challenge between the grim Assassin and the Captain, a few still had their weapons pionted in the general direction of the treelin, wary lest her come back.
"Armsmen at ease!" Borek snapped, his churning insides close to emptying themselves on the ground like the Captain, and Borek hadn't even been the center of attention. With Harlow he helped the Captain to his feet
"M'lord. The creature is gone, and to the Emperor with it's fate."

"Damn that freak!" Cepheus spat, shrugging off the help, not bothering to point out to Borek it had in fact been a human.

The sound of an explosion interrupted Cepheus before he could continue his verbal fountain of abuse, which was then followed by distant gunfire. The Karukian's started murmuring, pointing in the direction of the noise which had been much closer than the other muffled exchanges of ammunition. Borek called his Helmsmen and Shield-Bearer Varuz up and then turned back to the Captain.

"The war continues, sire! Give us leave to strike at the nearby foe!" Borek's voice brimmed with excitement, his hand clenching and relaxing at intervals on his sabre hilt.

{The explosion and gunfire would be Warrender having a jolly time with the rebel convoy, so obviously we aren't going to come running to your rescue. However, this does give our leader the option of choosing to meet up with the other Imperials now and study the datalog later, or keep the forces seperate}

They recorded as much imformation as they could regarding the strange device before them. Branson was quite happy when Warrender had agreed that instead of destroying the device they could simply bury it. He was less happy however when he was nominated to lose his sleeping tent in order that the device could be wrapped up and kept intact.

"Don't know why it's gotta be me that loses my tent to wrap this bloody thing in" Branson muttered to himself as he folded the tent around the device ensuring the damp couldn't get to it. Meanwhile, Jerrico and Lukas stood close, arms resting on the spades in front of the hole they had just dug.

Branson with the help of Lukas and Jerrico picked up the device and lowered it into the hole, then taking out his own spade he unfolded it hearing the clicking mechanisms as it locked in place and joined the others in burying it.

While they were busy burying the strange device, Warrender and Marcus stood apart from the group, talking in low voices. Warrender didn't mind using Marcus as a sounding board because out of the 4 of them he seemed the most mature and sensible. "Its strange" Warrender spoke, "Several hours and we haven't heard any more radio chatter. What the hell happened to all the forces stationed in this area, there was at least 5 regiments stationed around the area and now its as if they have just disappeared without a trace."

Marcus took a few moment to ponder the words "Its very odd. All I'm getting is static across the comm's, could be a jamming device, but if it was we'd certainly have met across some loyal forces by now"

"Well, there's one way to find out" Warrender said as he grabbed the comm's unit. "This is Warrender, is anyone recieving?"

Gra'ff'en was getting tired of this. Traipsing through the woods following images only glimpsed in dreams. Yes, the images existed before his eyes not long after, it seemed the Eldar Gods wished him, but for what reason he didn't know and was getting very impatient to find out.

Last night it had been more of the same. He stood once again atop the plateau, but this time instead of looking out across the valley below he faced the other way. Before him was a city, or at least what was left of it. "Kell's Reach," the paint slathered on the ruined wall said, "a place of dogs and demons".

"Much like every other city the humans infested." Gra'ff'en muttered to himself. Having no other clues in his most recent dream, he had decided to head towards the city. He could see it through the treetops so he musnt be too far distant. Though instead of being in ruins it was perfectly intact there on the bluffs, or so the spires and towers showed.

Gra'ff'en was lost in thought again and he burst through the trees coming quite suddenly face to face with a gruff human. They stood dumb-founded for a moment. Gra'ff'en noted the mans stubble outlining his hard jaw, and the way every inch of him seem covered in some form of filth whether it be dirt, blood, soot, oil, or grease. "Warrender" was etched on his battle plate above the left breast.

Before this "Warrender" was able to regain his wits (Gra'ff'en assumed it wasn't often this man had seen an Eldar, if indeed ever. Besides, what with his peculiar appearance himself he doubted even another Eldar wouldn't be a bit stunned. In his travels Gra'ff'en had taken to sporting the human crew-cut, had many piercings along his long pointy ears, and since his hood was down both odd facts were quite utterly visible. If he had been able to think on such things Gra'ff'en would have had a smirk on his face thinking that the man probably thought he was another human just with oddly shaped ears.) Gra'ff'en quickly and unceremoniously shoved the man in the dirt. He took a quick look around and saw three soldiers burying... well... something and another sitting on a log nearby polishing a weapon. No, these weren't odds a rifleman like him favored.

Gra'ff'en threw up his hood and sprinted as fast as he could across the road and into the woods. He heard shouts ring out, but paid them no attention as he ran headlong through the wilderness north toward Kells Reach.

[I've left whether or not you follow up to you, but I doubt you would be able to find an Eldar ranger in thick wood and sprinting headlong away from you. You're welcome to try though! ]

{Just a note, but I thought we were heading away from Kell's Reach, as dictated by the map?}

Warrender replaced the hand held comm back onto the comm's unit and stood up. "Keep an ear open for any responses" he said to Marcus who was cleaning the dirt off his autogun.

As he turned he came face to face with a hooded stranger, before he could even open his mouth he found himself flying backward and landing awkwardly on the floor. He felt the wind rush past him as the figure raced past and by the time he managed to get his senses back and roll over the figure was long gone.

"What the hell was that?!?!" he bellowed. Jerrico, Branson and Lukas all looked up inquizatively as they had seen nor heard anything. Marcus was still sat down rifle and rag in hand with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"I'm going to kill that jerk when i get my hands on him" He snarled. "Who Sir?" Lukas asked. Warrender sneered and looked over to Lukas, "Didn't you see him?! Get after him, NOW!!" Jerrico, Lukas and Branson quickly dropped their spades and picked up their rifles, Marcus nodded as he too ran past, autogun in hand, as they raced through the tree's in the direction that Warrender was pointing. Warrender promptly sat back down, brushing off the dirt and his damaged ego, looking into the wood where the strange figure had ran into.

"Your a dead man" He said to himself, low enough so no one could hear him.

((Edited after reading WARORK93's post below ))

Harlow watched the assassin walk away. He spat in disgust.

'We need to move on...' He thought. He walked over toward Joryn who was recovering from his bout with the assassin.

"Sir, I oughta take a peak at the engagement out there, be our eyes and ears."

Joryn just nodded as he caught his breath and Harlow turned to leave, hustling through the forest towards the sounds of the explosion. Soon, he could see smoke and fire on the horizon. He stalked forward, hugging his cloak around him and unshouldering his rifle. It took him a while but eventually Harlow circled around the area as to be close enough to see who was around. He saw the dead chimera's, the bodies, and saw that they were clearly rebel so whoever was still around was obviously imperial. Still, that didn't stop Harlow from being stealthy. He crawled through the trees until he saw some figures in the distance. Harlow ducked and scoped up the figures. They seemed to be looking for something. Harlow saw that they were indeed Imperials and as they came closer, Harlow stood up.

"Pax Imperialis!" He shouted, putting his rifle up in the air for them to see.

"There he is!" came the answer and the men rushed him.

"What the--?" Was all Harlow had time to say before he was brought to the ground by a group of four men. The tussled until Harlow was quickly overpowered and borne into the ground. One of the men was about to stave his head in with his weapon when Harlow's hawk swooped out of the sky and began to peck and claw at the man until he batted it away cursing. The hawk lit upon a nearby branch of a tree and the man raised his weapon to kill it.

Harlow kicked the men holding him off of himself and tackled the man with the raised gun with a snarl. Before the others had time to react. Harlow had the soldier in a choke hold with his dagger poised at his jugular. The men around him pointed their weapons at Harlow and his hostage. Harlow panted and slowly took the cloak of his hood off to reveal his human face a fierce eyes. He pulled a silver chain from around his neck and held up the silver aquila for the men to see.

"I'm sure you men don't wanna see your friend here bleed out in front of you so lets try this again. My name is Master Sergeant Harlow, 85th Vendolan. Where's your commander?"

{Basically I saw a little opportunity for some comic relief here. As the eldar races off with the rookies in hot pursuit, they run into Harlow who could be mistaken for the Eldar considering they both wear cloaks. }

Emperors Faithful wrote:{Just a note, but I thought we were heading away from Kell's Reach, as dictated by the map?}

[That may or may not be your objective. Mine may or may not be directly intertwined with yours.]

-Cypher- wrote:

Emperors Faithful wrote:{Just a note, but I thought we were heading away from Kell's Reach, as dictated by the map?}

[That may or may not be your objective. Mine may or may not be directly intertwined with yours.]

That's a bleedin typical Eldar thing to say!

The two men stood, rifles pointed at this so called Imperial Officer, the third a face of thunder as he felt the sharp metal blade pressed against his throat, the fourth shouting expletives and clutching his eye as he thrashed around like a child.

"Damn bird! I'm so gonna ge...". Branson shouted before he was cut off by Marcus. "Shut the hell up Branson" Marcus bellowed, his rifle still pointing at Harlow before he returned his gaze back.

Marcus eyed up the silver aquila, wondering wether he was telling the truth or had simply stole it from a soldier he had killed. He stared into his eyes, Harlow stared back, not a shadow of fear crossed either of their eyes as Harlow held the knife to Lukas's throat.

Eventually Marcus nodded and lowered his weapon. Jerrico seeing this also lowered his while looking worriedly at this Harlow charactor. "I'm Marcus, recruit, I think you'd best talk to our Commander, he isn't best pleased with you". Marcus quickly brushed past him, heading back towards Warrender, his face calm, just as it had done since their mission began and at everything that had bee thrown at them. Jerrico wandered how a man with no military history or proper military training could keep so calm in these conditions.

Harlow, seeing the weapons lowered, released his grip and gave a gentle push to move Lukas away from him and turned to follow Marcus. Lukas gripped his own neck instinctively, bending over hunched up and wheezed firmly as he looked at the two figures walking away. Lifting his rifle he followed, his face contorted in anger. Jerrico watching, quickly snapped to and followed suit, leaving the whinging Branson to tag behind.

Harlow slung his rifle and unfastened the holster on his hip where he had picked up the laspistol. He didn't think he'd have to use it but still, he hadn't exactly started off with these guys on the right foot. He lifted his arm and the Hawk lit on it, and crawled stepped its way up to Harlow's shoulder and sat there.

He followed the men back to where they were burying the.....object, and a man walked towards them with the pins of a captain. To everyone's surprise, Harlow saluted.

"Master Sergeant Harlow, 85th Vendolan, Captain..." Harlow repeated, hoping the Captain would at least tell him his name.

"Warrender" The man said.

"Captain Warrender then. I'm here as the forward scout of Captain Joryn Cephus' unit, they aren't that far from here." Harlow said pointing to the trees where he had come from.

"You got a radio? I need to contact him and--" he began until Warrender cut him off.

"What the hell makes you think you can just tackle a superior and them waltz back here like nothing happened?"

Harlow stared blankly at Warrender

"I'm afraid I don't follow sir..." Harlow said defensively. Warrender took a step closer and looked Harlow up and down his eyes grew wide as he realized that the person who had tackled him was not Harlow, he looked around frantically.

"Anyone pass you on your way here?" Warrender asked. Harlow remained confused.

"No sir." Harlow's eyes scanned the scene around him until he found the object that the men were burying.

"What the frak is that?"




{I'd also like to apologize to Hellsguardian for kinda sorta contradicting his post. I highly appreciate him being a good sport about it though }

{Take a look at the map, gents. Kell's Reach is a good ways east of Warrender's position and for plot purposes I must reiterate that it is an important Imperial base.}

Joryn eased into the Griffon's command chair, the engines rumbling throatily as the vehicle made its way back towards the road. An enthusiastic Borek had situated himself behind the pintle-mounted heavy stubber, but Captain Cepheus had insisted that operation of the mortar be left to Harlow; there was no telling what sort of mess the feudals might have made of it. Seeing several life-signs on the auspex, he powered down the Griffon's turbines and stepped outside. He leaned against his newfound steed's armored flank, still weakened from his encounter with the Culexus.

"Harlow!", he called. "Get in here! For Terra's sake, we've had enough distractions." The Vendolan sniper stood amongst several other Imperial soldiers, and at the side of the road they seemed to be in the process of burying a strange piece of tech. Joryn took a few steps closer and could hardly contain his excitement at realizing what they had stumbled upon. "Get this thing in the APC!", he shouted in the Karukian's general direction. He then turned to Harlow's new companions. "Warrender, I presume?" The officer nodded and opened his mouth to speak. "Captain, we-" "You have plenty of questions, I'm sure. If you'd be so kind as to situate your squad in this armored vehicle the rebels were so kind as to provide us, I'll answer them on the way to the objective. As things stand, we've had one holdup after the other and I'll be damned if I let anything else delay my mission."

Shield-Bearer Barbarossa scratched the dead tissue around his missing eye nervously. He had always felt at home by his Lord Voldersun's side. As the Master of the Hussars back amongst Karukian's, he had a surprising amount of status for a low-born. Indispensible, the finest tracker un Borek's command, his posistion as Shield-Bearer was assured. At the moment though he wasn't thinking about his career path, or how strange it was that he didn't actually carry a shield. He was thinking about the man, or not, that Harlow had claimed the new men had mistaken him for. Something foul was on the wind here. He had to talk to his master.

"My Lord Borek," Barbarossa approached him while the others where distracted with some new find.

Borek turned his attention from the strange device that Joryn was hurrying into the Griffon. "Speak true, Barbarossa."

Barbarossa bowed his head and continued. "This man, this thing, that the huntsman Harlow reffered to... I feel I must investigate. PanPan picked up a scent a few mintues ago, and it's no good thing."

Borek was silent, processing the new information. PanPan, the men's mascot, was a thoroughbred hunting hound, a huge creature that had a sense of smell that put it's compatriots to shame. And if the troubled Barbarossa well, only a fool would discard the advice and wishes of his right hand man.

"Take Valuk and Petera, follow this scent untill you find this man or whatever it is. Bring it to me, in whole or pieces. Emperor guide you." Borek rose and headed after the Griffon.

"As you wish, M'lord." Barbarossa muttered. "As you wish."

{BTW, yes we have a dog. But Harlow got a cool hawk, so just go with it. }

{BTW, in case it wasn't clear, as small team has split off and is following the trace of the Eldar (who has a fair lead by now). It will be interesting to see what happens here.}

Warrender looked into Harlow's eye's and saw the confusion in his expression. Satisfied he nodded and rather than salute back, his took his hand in a gentlemans handshake. Harlow recognised the greeting as genuine albiet strange for an officer to shake a soldiers hand, never the less he returned the gesture.

"Its some kind of strange device we robbed from some rebels along the road, and yes, we have a radio" Warrender said, answering Harlow's previous question.

Their train of thought was distracted by shouting from the road "Harlow! Get in here! For Terra's sake, we've had enough distractions."

Harlow quickly jumped to and headed to the transport, warrender followed closely behind, he had already recognised the voice as the same as the distress call from earlier. "Get this thing in the APC!" Joryn bellowed and Warrender saw the look of glee on his face as he recognised the device.

Warrender stepped forward to address the Captain only to be cut off mid sentence while several Karukian's ran past towards the buried device. His annoyance lasted a mere second, he realised that he was indeed right, there was much work to be done and they were at risk staying in this position for too long, there would be plenty of time for talk while they moved to a safer position. Warrender nodded respectfully and turned on the spot, his thick trent coat swayed with him as he stood hands clasped behind his back. "Onboard now!" he shouted at his men

A quick flick of his head gestured to Marcus to follow which he duely did. Warrender entered the APC and sat down, Marcus lowered his head to avoid clanging it on the roof and took a seat opposite his commanding officer. "Joryn ..." Warrender spoke, "... if they aren't onboard in 30 seconds, feel free to leave them behind" he said in a voice loud enough for them to hear and chuckled to himself as he watched Jerrico, Lukas and Branson quicken their pace to the transport and jumped onboard taking positions at the rear ramp.

They watched through the tiny portholes as the several Karukian's quickly dug up the device and march it into the APC, leaving it by the feet of the passengers inside. Branson, who was already recieving treatment from a Karukian medic for his eye, was all too quick to snatch his tent cloth back that he had used to wrap up the device.

Warrender pulled out a hip flask of Groskein (pronounced Grosh'skin, a local whisky of this world) and took a large swig before handing it to the man on his left "Pass it around, looks like you have some stories to tell" He watched the man take a swig and the the APC filled with light laughter as the man coughed and wheezed. "Good stuff" he wheezed as he passed it to the next man.

Warrender leaned back in his seat and looked into the cabin. "So ... Captain Joryn, you tell me your story I'll tell you mine" He grinned as one of his team started coughing at the strength of the Groskein.

As the APC pulled away he glanced out, looking for a sign of the man that had sent him flying, he of course, was long gone.


---- ---- ---- ----
OOC
((nah, don't worry about the re-write, I was going to write a whole segment of our interaction, but as it was already 1am for me I could only manage to edit my post to fit in))

Owain wrote:As things stand, we've had one holdup after the other and I'll be damned if I let anything else delay my mission."

I'm liking the hard stance Joryn is finally taking. Keep that up and he'll whip those Imperials into shape soon enough.

Emperors Faithful wrote:{BTW, in case it wasn't clear, as small team has split off and is following the trace of the Eldar (who has a fair lead by now). It will be interesting to see what happens here.}

Indeed it will be, but a dog chasing me through the woods? I'm sensing racial over-tones. No, no, I'm just kidding, but I couldn't help myself.

{ The dog is alright I think. I'm sure if we dun do anything silly with the animals then it'll be fine. Besides, at this point, I'm sure the imperial army is low tech enough to use animals, hell, we use em today in RL!

One thing though, am I to assume that we are now ALL in the griffon? Pretty tight fit, I guess, unless some are riding on the tracks.}

Harlow shifted his bird to his hand as he went towards the APC

"Go on girl, I'll see ya later." the hawk flew off, leaving the assembled men for the sky, headed for the post, Harlow boarded the APC as the others piled in behind him and they were soon off after the strange device had been attatched to the vehicle. Harlow sat behind the mortar, he hoped he wouldn't be asked to fire it, he wasn't sure he could, he wasn't trained to.

Harlow looked over at the imperial soldier his bird had scratched. He noticed the cut wasn't deep, the man would keep the eye, but it would be sore for a while.

"I want to apologize on behalf of Sehra, she doesn't take to kindly to people trying to kill me." Harlow laughed as the man grimaced and rubbed his injured eye. "I'm sure she'll forgive you though."

The flask finally came to Harlow and he took a swig and coughed at the strength. "Damn" he said as he passed it to the next man. Harlow turned to adress Joryn

"Sir, mind me asking what is our objective?"

His glance turned to the strange device on the vehicle

"And what the hell is that thing?"

(( I have no clue about Chimera's. I made an assumption it would be able to transport 20 soldiers which would be my team of 5, 14 Karukian's and Harlow. Joryn in the cabin with a driver and Borek controlling the mounted Stubber. Joryn also implied he wanted Harlow to control the mortar, so I assume thats mounted as well. If I'm wrong just imply it in the next section of RP and we can pick it up from there ))
(( If he gets a dog I wanna chimp, joking ))

{Well the thing is that a griffon is not based off of the chimera chassis ,its based of the salamander chassis which is much smaller IIRC. Although this could very well be a different version, as guardian said, just say so.}

(Okay, so just a little summary and to make sure I'm following things correctly:

Current positions of characters are:
Gra'ff'en- heading to Kell's Reach on the right side of the road heading north.

War render, Joryn, Harlow, Borek and his Karukians are all aboard the griffon heading to the post

Elgarion is doing what exactly? I know he slipped off into the woods, but what is his current location?

Also, @Owain, is the post the main objective such that my RP should be adjusted so as to have that as my main objective even though I'm not directly involved in the conflict on the planet? Thats fine if that's how you want it. You are the "GM" of this after all.)

{Only Joryn, Harlow, Borek, and Warrender's squad are in the Griffon, and it's a pretty tight fit. The Karukian infantry are marching alongside it at the moment, and I believe there are roughly three squads. Gra'ff'en is way off towards Kell's Reach, presumably up to some mischief at the Imperial base. Elgarion's location is unknown. Cypher, feel free to carry on, but after we've taken the post the story will progress to its next chapter, so to speak.}

{Hmmmm, come to think of it dont think it was ever established where Mordo's unit was. and what ever happened to the techpriest or the kasrkin? they only posted once each....oh well.}

WARORK93 wrote:{Hmmmm, come to think of it dont think it was ever established where Mordo's unit was. and what ever happened to the techpriest or the kasrkin? they only posted once each....oh well.}

I'm gone for a day... and here we are. Currently trying to get myself caught up. Otwain, feel free to run my character as an NPC until I read through all the posts.

Barbarossa watched as the Griffon and other Karukian's marched further away, out of earshot. Signalling Valuk and Petera, they broke cover and headed back in the direction where Warrender had been camped. The best place to start tracking was where the quarry had last been seen. PanPan caught the scent instantly and, straining on his leash, he almost sent Petera flying facefirst into the dust. PanPan's excited yipps and enthusiastic tugs made their direction of travel clear. It appeared that the man-thing had backpeddaled, in the direction of Kell's Reach.

Barbarossa's wide grin betrayed his deplorable Karukian dental condition, but it mattered little. The hound had the scent, and thus the hunt was on.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Borek still had tears running down his cheeks from the ungodly flask that Warrender had provided, his comical expression eliciting laughter from Harlow and Branson, who still clutched a bandage to his eye.

"Damn this stuff is strong!" Borek croaked, before taking another swig. Emperor knew he'd need it for whatever was ahead.

Owain wrote:{Cypher, feel free to carry on, but after we've taken the post the story will progress to its next chapter, so to speak.}

[I appreciate the long leash. I'll bring him back around to keep the story near your vision. If I can get away from that pooch that is.]

-Cypher- wrote:
Elgarion is doing what exactly? I know he skilled off into the woods, but what is his current location?

(OOC: the most accurate thing would be to say Elgarion is drowning under a mountain of exam-related tomfoolery, but that's not very heroic. )

Elgarion perched himself on a sturdy looking branch as the vehicle sped away into the difference. And sulked. It was unbecoming of him, he was ment to be an Imperial Assassin, but he couldn't help it. That bloody captain and his lapdogs had come dangerously close to ruining everything! If they'd just agreed to accompany him, he could get off this planet fast, but as ever that would be too easy.
Still, needs must. Rising, and jumping to the forest floor with a cat-like grace, the Culexus turned his head towards the sound of the engine in the difference. The outpost the army boys were traipsing towards must have a radio link of some kind, and that spud give jim the chance to find the exact times and locations his target would be in striking distance. Plus, he could kill that sergeant. Elgarion smiled under his helmet, a genuine one this time.
He was going to enjoy this.

[I've noticed the thread to be slipping a bit and becoming quiet. I'd like to apologize for my part in that. I've been swamped lately with class, and I somehow got wrangled into a tournament so I've been painting and figuring out an army list for the past couple days. I'll get to this soon though. Just letting you guys know I'm still in.]

-Cypher- wrote:[I've noticed the thread to be slipping a bit and becoming quiet. I'd like to apologize for my part in that. I've been swamped lately with class, and I somehow got wrangled into a tournament so I've been painting and figuring out an army list for the past couple days. I'll get to this soon though. Just letting you guys know I'm still in.]

(Same here, and I know how school is I've already posted my part, was hopin Owain would get on soon and tell us the next part..)

((Waiting for Owain to forward the storyline, he's not been on as far as I can tell so I'm just biding my time))

{Hey, me too! Only one month and school's out forever.}

Joryn took a pull from the flask and coughed. "Sweet Emperor, that's good stuff." The Griffon's navigator began to chime. Joryn flipped a few switches and addressed the passengers. "Looks like we're here, boys. Borek, you and your men are to engage the enemy immediately; Harlow, we'll support them in the Griffon. Warrender, you and your men are to infiltrate that command bunker to the west. It's lightly defended and you should be able to open the main gates from there. Once you've completed your assignment, we'll use the mortar to take out the base's guard towers and proceed to storm the HQ building. Questions? I sure hope not?" Warrender ordered his men out of the transport, shouting orders and abuse. Borek took his place alongside his warriors and Joryn gunned the Griffon's engine. The assault had begun.

[can someone please catch me up? I'd like to jump back in]