I'm reasonably sure that Khorne doesn't have billions of Honored Bloodthirsters hanging around. Remember, these are just below Exalted Bloodthirsters, and presumably just above the Archangel of the Third Sphere. I'd peg their numbers at a few thousand at the most, a few hundred if you're correct about Khorne only having four Exalted Bloodthirsters. I'd place their value to Khorne at about the level that our Marshals or less important Advisers are to us. IE, it hurts to lose one, but it's not a massive critical weakness.
Billions was likely hyperbole, but it has so many that it doesn't really matter.
These guys trying to kill us are equal to the second circle archangyels and Khorne has had millions of years to build up their numbers (this one isn't hyperbole).
Loosing one or two or even three doesn't matter to Khorne, it has hundreds more jockeying for a chance to get a promotion, some of whom are likely even better than their predecessors, their loss isn't even irritating.
Daemons tend to talk a good game, but turn into wusses when losing for real is on the line. Great Unclean Ones will laugh about how Nugle always lives in the end while 'dying' but when they see the Emperor, who can True Kill them, they panic. I assume that something similar is going on with Khornate Daemons, and that this is reflected in their patrons.
In fairness most would turn into wusses when faced with an angry transcendent apex, blaring its god aura
However, you are correct most daemons will piss their pants when faced with the chance of true death, its one of the reasons they're so cautious around anyone baring the black crystal blade, its one of only two artefacts I can think of that can inflict true death.
However, not every daemon turns into a wuss, as shown by the fact that many of the Khornate Daemons are still willing to challenge Rotbart to one on one fights, despite the knowledge that if they loose they're dead for real.
Ridcully ran across the ground, his body running at the limits of it's biomanticaly enhanced speed. Darting down the left street of a crossroads he spared a second to loo- the axe fell from above cutting him in half.
No, that's not how it's going to go.
Ridcully ran across the ground, his body running at the limits of it's biomanticaly enhanced speed. Darting down the right turn of a crossroads he spared a seco- a spear hurled from somewhere shatters his ribcage.
No, that won't do.
Ridcully ran across the ground, his body running at the limits of it's biomanticaly enhanced speed, pausing at a crossroads to hurl himself forward with a great telekinetic shove. Forsaking subtle for spee- the flame from a pile of burning rubble flared into a burning lance, burning his power and flesh alike to ash.
That doesn't even make sense! What is a bloodthirster doing with a power like that!? Ok, new approach.
Ridcully ducked into a building, the door sliding open from the telekinetically entered code and slamming shut behind him. The thick door lasted seconds, and did nothing but grant him a chance to see Ashstriker before the demon bellowed spewing forth a cloud sorcerous ash snuffing out his powers before driving a halberd through his skull.
Hmm, I'll have to watch for that.
Ridcully sprinted towards an elevator shaft, it's doors crumpling before his power, and then a great claw the size of his torso burst out from the darkness to crush his skill.
What? How did he…
Ridcully threw himself upwards, ascending on wings of will, and then a spear burst from a window skewering him.
Somethings wrong.
Riecully gathered his will to blink, and then a rift in the warp tore itself open in his guts,
He can't do that, what is…
Ridcully took one step and died as his blood boiled.
Ridcully wrenched his mind back to the present. Frowning as he turned down the street to see the giant form of Ashstriker stride down the street with lazy confidence.
"Tell me seer, does knowing how this ends make you feel better?"
Ridcully saw, and understood. In the same instant, he called for assistance as he threw every grenade he had at the demon in a telekinetic storm, covering the street in a blossom of blessed ordinance. Seizing the and shaping the flying shrapnel Ridcully charged. His sniper rifle speaking as he closed the distance. Ashstriker froze in shock, and Ridcully grinned. Sheer surprise saw the first exchange go to Ricully, the force bayonet of his rifle letting him use it as a spear he cut deeply into the demons side. Then it recovered and a lighting fast hoof strike sent Ridcully and most of his rib cage flying in different directions.
Ignoring his collapsing lungs Ridcully accelerated his flying body, gaining distance and unloading shots into the still recovering demon, it's flesh shattering like crystal only to flow like water as it spent power to heal. Every future saw him run and die, he could see no future where he fought. Ridcully blinked dropping his momentum and landing safely in a crouch as he continued his barrage. Something was wrong with the wounds in his chest, he couldn't heal them. But that was fine, he had enofgh biomancy to keep his blood oxygenated for a few minutes.
Ashstriker screamed in disbelief "How?!"
"Did you think I wouldn't see through your tricks? I've seen gods rise and fall child. Your nothing special."
The demon snarled, its wounds already knitted shut, Ridcully wasn't going to be able to kill this thing, he needed time.
"Are you truly so blind to who you fight that you thought I wouldn't notice how I could only see futures where I ran? I don't know if I should be impressed that you could block my sight, or scornful that you did so with the subtlety of a rampaging child"
It snorted, then grinned. " Then fight, search blindly for the thin hope of survival I have hidden from your sight. May your struggles elevate the worthiness of your skull!"
Ridcully grimaced. Help was on the way, he just needed to hold out for another few minutes. Blind to the future for the first time in centuries, Ridcully charged.
The jaw shattered as the claw brutally swiped across it, sending the bloodletter tumbling down into a crumbling heap, the juggernaut it was riding barely having time to notice it's new rider before a blade was driven deep into its neck. The demons death throes hurling it's final passenger blade first into a standard bearer. The next victim tried to bring it's blade up in a parry, only to be knocked to the ground by the body of the previous victim, the last thing it saw was a rapidly descending boot. The next died with a pneumatic claw crushing its neck, the one after that as a brass horn was shoved through its face.
For a single instant the slaughter was halted by the lack of victims, then the killer's body hissed and a cannon rose from its shoulder to vent his fury at being denied, a dozen more demons died in a hail of annihilating energy. The molten ground hissed and spalted as a form thundered across it bellowing an incoherent challenge. An infernal champion stepped up, throwing it's furry against its foe. Seconds later it died as clawed fingers found the leverage to split its skill in its ruined eyes. Six of its seven companions fared no better. The last stumbled back, stunned by the furry it was facing, it's clawed hand trembling around the brass horn it clenched.
"Do you job coward."
The last died as the sound of its otherworldly horn faded, the instrument driven fatally in its head. The killer would not be denied his prey, and a half dozen demon engines lumbered forward. The first died in seconds under the twisting energies of immensely destructive techno arcana, the rest were not so lucky. A skittering spider of brass and flesh writhed in agony as claws furiously ripped at its back, the spray of shrapnel turning briefly bloody as it's beating heart was pulped and discarded. A twisted hulk that had once been a dreadnaught found its ancient hull failing under a barrage of shattering blows, it feebly attempts at survival doing nothing but giving its killer momentum to work with. It's 2 brothers soon melting under the guns of their own allies as a great brass scorpion tried desperately, futilely, to stave off its' doom. It died with its own severed tail jammed through its engine.
It's killer moving forward with single-minded determination, ignoring the dead and dying demons as it sought yet greater prey. Hundreds had died to his claws, and guns and blades, and hundreds more still would die. Mineyev strode forth, daring the slaves of khorne to strike him down. They would give him the end he sought, or they would die in agony. He would give them no other choice.
@Durin, this is concerning the rank of the head of the Mechanicus' military. This is what Lexicanum has to say about the ranks.
Archimandrite - Magos Prime who have risen to the supreme power of their order. In their hands are entrusted the secrets of the arcane weaponry of the Dark Age of Technology. They command Forge Worlds when they go to war and are rulers in their own right.
Archmagos Prime - Senior Magos Prime who serve as field commanders.
The head AdMech military guy may not command Forge Worlds, but they are the supreme power of their order and command all other AdMech field commanders that may exist within the Trust.
@DeusFerreus, can you switch Air Support Concentrated to concentrating the Air Support on the Grand Legions attacking Aridia and Avernus' Spine? Lindon really doesn't need the extra help while the other two regions need all the help they can get.
@DeusFerreus, as someone voting for your plan, I agree with this. Please change Khol+Frozen Remnants to Mineyev+Black Irons. You can have Khol and co. go to Dis instead.
@DeusFerreus, as someone voting for your plan, I agree with this. Please change Khol+Frozen Remnants to Mineyev+Black Irons. You can have Khol and co. go to Dis instead.
Yeah, you're probably right. Though remember that while Lonely Citadel is in worse state Dis have outer walls down and the Honored Bloodthirster assaulting it.
Yeah, you're probably right. Though remember that while Lonely Citadel is in worse state Dis have outer walls down and the Honored Bloodthirster assaulting it.
Dis also has Rotbart in direct command, Saint Lin, and is getting reinforced. It also still has the Inner Walls intact, so has two lines of defense. The Lonely Citadel has only ONE line of defense left, and if it falls then the city is lost and the daemons have another route into Dis. This is exactly the kind of situations the Black Irons are for - heavy, desperate fighting where you need the crazy guys who absolutely will not break.
++ Thought for the Day: May the Emperor's Wrath forever cleanse our souls. ++
After storming his way through the enemy lines that cut him off from his men, Mineyev spotted the Fellblade he voxed for as well as its escorts. Surrounding them was a hell of fortifications, mines, barbed wire, and heavily entrenched Black Irons. In front of them was a carpet of daemon corpses that were busy being incinerated by flamer-armed guardsmen. Occasionally one of the corpses would prove less corpse-like than the others and rise up to disembowel a offending guardsman, only to have its head blown off by a sniper keeping overwatch.
No words were said by either he or his men as Mineyev entered the Fellblade. As soon as he seated himself, the Fellblade immediately began speeding off to Mineyev's command post, the tanks around it following suit and providing it additional protection. Meanwhile, the Major-General, with nothing else to do, began praying. The safe zone set up by his men quickly disappeared as the convoy drove through the blood-soaked streets of the hive, driving past the occasional skirmish between militia forces and daemons.
After a long drive involving the dispatching of a few over-ambitious daemons trying and failing to stop the convoy, it finally arrived at the Black Irons' HQ. High rockrete walls bearing the banners of the Black Irons hung from their parapets, heavy weapons poking out from the shielded firings slits manned by sleepless guardsmen. Instead of blood, the road leading to the wall was covered in craters, pock-marks, and a thick layer of bone chips and ash. The gate opened and the forces stationed in front of it parted to allow the convoy through.
As soon as the convoy's journey had reached its end, Mineyev stopped praying and disembarked from his transport. A pair of Helguard waiting for his arrival fell in behind him to act as bodyguards. After confirming their IFF tags, Mineyev immediately began marching his way towards the the centre of his command post, passing through several thick, warded adamantium gates and having his mind tested by several Primaris psykers on the way. As he walked, the steady and even pace of his machine frame's stride allowed attendant tech-priests to efficiently remove his wargear for processing, the Machine Spirits already protesting at their state of disrepair and the daemonic blood covering them.
At last, Mineyev passed through the final gate and entered the centre of the Black Iron's command operations. Guardsmen stood armed and ready, waiting for a breach from without by the daemonic or from within by the heretical. The room was filled with the sounds of vox operators communicating with external forces, tech-priests communing with advanced machines in sacred binary cant, and the insistent humming of a songweaving telepath further shielding the minds of those in the bunker against the whispers of the Warp.
In the centre of the room was a large hololith, surrounded by the Brigadiers under him - a few of them newly promoted - and his second-in-command, seemingly discussing the tactical situation at hand. As he approached, they fell silent and watched him as he took in the current state of the war being waged over the hive. After a few moments of contemplation and coordination with High Command, Mineyev came to a resolution and sent out orders that, if all went well, would finally give he and his men worthy dooms. At this point, however, Mineyev knew this was wishful thinking more than anything; the most likely outcome would be the predicted victories but with both he and many of his men surviving.
The effects of the Second Demonic Incursion could be seen in the valleys and mountain faces in all of Avernus' Spine. Giant pits of gnaw worms appeared here and there every time a new throng of daemons came bursting forth from the north. In other places avalanche shrubs worked together with meteor figs, the first burying the Khornates under literal mountains of rubble before the second bombarded them to smithereens.
It was in this place that the Highlanders, a branch of the Bushmasters, who specialised in living on Avernus' Spine, fought on.
Using the terrain to their favour, every valley was filled and refilled again with bouncing mines that shot up in the air at controlled times. Their purpose was twofold: to separate the enemies into more manageable chunks and to hurt them.
Hypersonic pieces of silver-galvanised adamantium shrapnel turned bloodletters into ripped pieces of blood and gore, especially now that they had "tweaked" the height of the mines jumps so they were now exploding right in the Khornates' faces.
If it was any other enemy the sight alone would have routed them, but that wasn't the case with the Blood Legions, as every explosion, every death was answered with howls of anger and fury that would make any normal man scream in fear and despair at the sound of such anger, but not them. They were Avernites, and killing daemons was their duty.
So every howl was answered with bullets coming from casemates built into the mountains faces, pillboxes at ground level, and even in some cases from spider holes concealed with Bushmaster skin atop them.
Grenades charged with a mix of a sticky oil provided by the Nynye and poison lichen were used to create death zones by filling the air with the noxious venoms. As well as poisoning their enemies, they were used to reduce their field of view as some of the failed Last Hunters who joined their crews used their rifles to deliver true death to the most dangerous enemies by using specially designed rounds filled with death's head venom.
Still, the lines of Incursion moved on, with every passing moment getting them closer to Dis and the extremely endangered Lonely Citadel, so the Highlanders, still had some mauling to do.
More votes than usual and plan let's not kill Xavier with a clear lead.
Adhoc vote count started by Nurgle on Aug 29, 2018 at 3:02 PM, finished with 103870 posts and 24 votes.
[X] Plan Let's Not Kill Xavier
-[x] The City of Glass: Reinforcements
-[X] The City of Glass: (Jane Oakheart, Jacob Oakheart, Marshal Chessire, Red Tracks)
-[X] Dis: Reinforcements
-[X] Dis: (Marshal Khol w/ Frozen Remnants, Aryz, Sir Pellinor, Companions of Varen)
-[x] The Lonely Citadel: Reinforcements
-[X] The Lonely Citadel: (Xavier w/ The Phase Tigers, Major-General Mineyev w/ Black Irons)
-[X] Air Support: Concentrated on Aridia and Avernus' Spine
[X] Plan Hunting Daemons
-[x] The City of Glass: Reinforcements
-[X] The City of Glass: (Xavier, Jane Oakheart, Jacob Oakheart)
-[X] Dis: Reinforcements
-[X] Dis: (Aryz, Sir Pellinor, Companions of Varen)
-[x] The Lonely Citadel: Reinforcements
-[X] The Lonely Citadel: (Major-General Mineyev w/ Black Irons, The Phase Tigers)
-[x] Air Support: Concentrated
