Don't they need rituals for that? Anything small enough to pull off on the fly shouldn't produce more than a handfull of minor Angyls, while the big ones that could keep their strength up are the ones we would get the opportunity to disrupt.
0730 – 67 hours before the assault on the Lonely Citadel
3rd squad of the 12th Company of the 13th Helguard regiment nickname the 'Argonots' were waiting to go on a long ranging patrol. Private Jefferson, Ovid and Griffin bantered about all the horrible ways they're going to die – it's their coping mechanism. Specialist Alesandro – the newest squad mate – is being hit on by Private Aegeus. While in the corner Private Hillard, Marcus, Varris and Alanis are playing cards – Private Hillard is winning but this is because Private Alanis and him are conspiring, Marcus knows but finds it funny while Varris is getting angrier about his losing streak. Private Falco is fiddling with the lucky charm of the now dead Specialist Agnes. They all stand to attention when Sargent Virgil comes in.
Within the hour they're stomping down the street resplendent in silvery power armour making their already impressive physiques more imposing, towering over the civilians they walk by. They pass through killing field 812, bunker housing block 7312 and the checkpoints swarming with heavy weaponry to get outside the walls of the Lonely Citadel. Kilometres away; along a vast array of earthworks, explosives and barbed wire they see the start of the forest. They start jogging.
0212 – 13 hours before the assault
Sargent Virgil pushes through the thick undergrowth of the forest near the Lonely Citadel, his squad of ten following after him. The forests unnatural quiet broken only by the slight whirring of powered armoured arms silently brushing away the grasping branches. Mountains can be seen rising from the canopy on either side.
0434 - 11 hours before the assault
The squad continues through the forest, sensors and senses scanning both the world and the warp for disturbances. Private Jefferson picks up a slight disturbance in the warp a hundred metres out, he hesitates as in a normal patrol it would hardly of mention. But this is no normal patrol, the forest has been emptied of wildlife. Some primal calling has brought them elsewhere.
The warp disturbance expands in every direction, blips pinging off the squads sensors in a uniform beat, 11 beating warp hearts. The squad reacts; neutron rifles flare up, plasma rifles whir and the pale incandescent light of the Sargents power sword spills across the forest floor.
The spearing forms of lesser angyls blast through the canopy in perfect formation, the lead angyl's are knocked out of the sky by spears of pale blue light and splashes of superheated plasma. The other 8 couch their lances, fold their wings and dive. Private Hillard is impaled through the chest into a tree, his power armour automatically shearing the intruding weaponry and closing off the wound. The rest of the squad fare better, hard earned instincts letting them twist out of the way or in the Sargents case, lop of the arm of the diving angyl in an athletic display of power assisted acrobatics.
Now on the forest floor, the serene faces of the lesser angyls reach into the warp and grasp ornate swords as the squad finally get a good look on what they're facing. The angyls are statues given motion, their exterior smooth and marble like; beautifully wrought wings fold around their back. As they stare, they feel a pull as if a greater purpose call to them. They must only commit their life and everlasting soul, a small price to pay to be part of something so magnificent. But alas for the angyls, these men and women are century old veterans - they have their purpose and these angyls are in their way.
Beams of power spill their light across the forest creating a kaleidoscope of conflicting colours, the angyls forms are scorched and melted. But soon the fight descends into close combat. Private Varro is quickly taken out, a leg and arm stolen by the elegant swish of a sword – no surprise she was always a poor close combat fighter. Private Ovid executes one of the downed angyls with a brutal downswing of a power axe – its marble exterior peels away to reveal a burbling, crazed man; wings melded grotesquely to his back and a vicious boiling power axe rent in his chest. The Sargent swiftly decapitates his angyl - the head turning into a terrified rictus of a man as it flies into the undergrowth. The rest of the squad fight with animalistic brutality a contrast to the elegant style of the angyls. Their millennia of combined experience shows, allowing them to hold their own and dismantle the perfect technique and blinding speed of the angyls sword arms.
Within thirty heartbeats all the angyls are corpses their faces frozen in horrified disgust as if their death revealed the truth of their existence and great gouges torn in their body. Unfortunately Private Jefferson's throat is gaped open, his power armour not managing to still the wound after one of the downed angyls tore through the back of his leg and another slashed his throat. Specialist Alesandro met a more horrific fate with a sword through her stomach the corruption seeped into her and mutated her innards into a more pleasing form for the tyrant, unfortunately that form was fatal. Other than that the wounds were sustainable, with power armour pumping adrenaline, closing rents in their forms and willpower holding back the suffocating need to give in and become one of many. Unfortunately that left them with only eight out of eleven left.
0505 - 10 hours before the assault
Making quick pace back to the lonely citadel the squad heard the faint sounds of the booby trapped bodies exploding.
0516 – 10 hours before the assault
Private Falco spotted hundreds of angyls in formation a few hundred metres away through the canopy, they soon spotted the squad and converged. As their wings folded up and their lances prepared a great screeching sound was heard, a flock of terrordyctyl birds had intercepted the formation. Taking the opportunity squad flew through the forest undergrowth, power armoured bulk burst through grasping vines and shouldered branches out their way. Alas a few angyls made it past the distraction and caught Private Ovid through the knee with a lance. Motioning the squad on he quickly dispatched one of angyls with a swing of his axe and parried the blade of another with one smooth motion. Now seven the squad continued on their way as screeches of terrordyctyls and the war cry's of Private Ovid grew fainter.
0646 – 9 hours before the assault
Fortunately they arrived back at the Lonely Citadel without much further trouble, the terrordyctyls giving them enough breathing room to escape and fade back into the forest. As they arrived at the densely packed killing fields before the wall of the Citadel they could only breathe in relief. Quickly passing through the checkpoints, scanners and PDF posturing with pulse rifles they arrived back at their barracks. While the rest of squad unequipped in silence, astutely ignoring the bantering of the soldier around them, Sargent Virgil headed to the company commander to debrief and find out where their squad were going to spend their lives in the defence.
its beens ages since I've wrote something so please point out grammatical mistakes - I've never been good at keeping consistent with my tenses- and feel free to give feedback.
Or to the Webway, yeah. I think it was just one of those things voters quietly ignored for the sake of good tension, rather than undercutting something that's built up for several turns now.
Anyway, moving Lin (or trying to fly just about anything that's not a specialized fighter craft) by air is too dangerous now. And as for moving him to the Webway, yes, that's a safe option, but it also severely restricts his research options, and we were currently doing things that needed Lin to be outside of the Webway.
Or to the Webway, yeah. I think it was just one of those things voters quietly ignored for the sake of good tension, rather than undercutting something that's built up for several turns now.
No we could not have put Lin in the Webway because the only portal is on Byzantium. And if we put him in the Webway earlier then we lose the ability to research most of the powers we were in the middle of. That is not getting into the fact that we cannot access the Webway on our own.
[X] Plan Proactive
-[X] Lonely Citadel Hold- Reinforce the Lonely Citadel with forces from Dis
-[X] Ritual- Disrupt it- Exchange lives for time
-[X]Keep airforce in reserve- Allow you to better react to unexpected attacks
-[X] Have Ridcully provide Divination support to help the Ancient one pin down the 1st circle
Just a rough draft of a plan atm.
We couldn't get him far enough away in time. The Daemons would have sent forces to destrory the ship and they would have succeeded since the ship would have been a much easier target.
I'm curious about how beneficial disrupting the ritual would be. The way I see it, unless we get lucky and the Ancient One succeeds in knee-capping the whole Incursion, we're going to be fighting the second force anyway. Letting them come sooner means we'll be fighting them for longer, but on the other hand it also lets us attrition the elites down before the First Circle shows. Between our own concentration of elites and the Eldar forces, I feel like we've got a pretty good counter to the elite forces in the second wave, but I don't know how well we could stop them if they're linked up with the First Circle.
We couldn't get him far enough away in time. The Daemons would have sent forces to destrory the ship and they would have succeeded since the ship would have been a much easier target.
Oh right yeah now, it would have been impossible I was more commenting on how if we could do it thanks to HHWO then the Angyls would have been in major trouble.
I'm curious about how beneficial disrupting the ritual would be. The way I see it, unless we get lucky and the Ancient One succeeds in knee-capping the whole Incursion, we're going to be fighting the second force anyway. Letting them come sooner means we'll be fighting them for longer, but on the other hand it also lets us attrition the elites down before the First Circle shows. Between our own concentration of elites and the Eldar forces, I feel like we've got a pretty good counter to the elite forces in the second wave, but I don't know how well we could stop them if they're linked up with the First Circle.
We know the abomination relies heavily on its plans, as First Circles if anything they're more vulnerable to that than any. Any chance to disrupt them should be taken.
We know the abomination relies heavily on its plans, as First Circles if anything they're more vulnerable to that than any. Any chance to disrupt them should be taken.
True, but I feel like running their surprise kill force into Suddenly Eldar would actually fuck the plans more than delaying the kill force's arrival. Great way to unveil the Eldar presence too—uses the surprise to neuter a trump card.
True, but I feel like running their surprise kill force into Suddenly Eldar would actually fuck the plans more than delaying the kill force's arrival. Great way to unveil the Eldar presence too—uses the surprise to neuter a trump card.
If we prevent the rift from forming then the force will have to enter via the rifts to the north and come all the way to us, fighting past the penguines, the weapons, the guardians and more, which will take at least 4 days, maybe more depending on the other assets the World has deployed like the Serpent (which should be awakening in perhaps 3 days from now, maybe a week) it could get splatted.
If we don't delay it then it will be summoned right now, it won't be bled at all, and will be coming right for us. The Eldar are good, but they're not going to do much beyond slow the fucker down, which will leave us int the same situation we started off in.
Aluravest was exhilarated. Today was the day he would earn his lords favor, today was the day he proved himself. His rise had stalled for too long in the middle hierarchy of the second sphere, but today, today he would rise. The false saint was not for him, but the champions who defended him would die by his hand. He alone had dared to wield his favored weapon, he alone risked so dangerous an advantage. He knew the Enemy, through bribes and favors and torture, he had pried the secrets of this world from the Daemon of Khorne. His fool rival had paid him for a chance to assault the city rather than guard the ritual. It had been so hard for Aluravest not to laugh.
His forbidden knowledge was, of course, hearsay, and utterly unforgivable unless he brought glory to God of course, and such glory it would bring. He knew these heretics, they would strike at the portal. The Oakhearts would lead the charge. The women with her killing blade and her son who grew more deadly as he bled. Both of the fools wielded base blades, weapons his shield would see him safeguarded from. The son's trick was familiar and easily overcome. For he had forged a blade from a thousand thousand killing strokes. One that would draw him closer to death with each blow, but would not spill a drop of his blood until it slew him. The mother was more difficult. It had taken many favors, but he had forged a weapon for her as well. It would work but once, but once was all he needed.
So equipped, it was with joy that he heard the death of his servants. They were coming, exactly as he had foreseen. The killing blow blade on his back, ready to be drawn once the mother was dealt with, the counter to the killer already prepared. He stood at the center of his defense, five times five rituals of awareness and warning prepared. The first blow almost ended him. Sparks flew as the blade of the tempest bit into the Angyl-forged steel of his gorget, the tip drawing a thin stream of Ichor from his throat. A burst of telekinesis, meant to send the killer flying, barely pushes her back, an oddity he has no time to ponder as the son comes from above.
Aluravest brings his mighty shield to bear, and the weight of a star parts it like water, biting deep into his torso in a spray of ichor. A follow up strike severs a pair of his wings as he desperately tries to fend off the attacker. What madness was this! His shock left an opening for the killer, only his shields nature letting him interpose it in time. The Blade of the tempest rebounded, as the son's new blade struck from nowhere and bit deep into his side. What madness was this? it has been only a few decades! Where had such an artifact come from!? A counterstroke at the killer was evaded with contemptuous ease, as the son struck from yet another impossible angle, shearing a great mass from his pauldron. Another blow from the killer, forcing him to block, leaving another opening for the son. this time he barely deflects it with his own blade, yet gravity still washes over his form, pulping flesh.
He can still overcome the son, new blade or no, but not with the mother nipping at his heels. With a cry he drives his blade into the ground, unleashing a punishing nova of force. The killer cuts it, but the son is flung away, he'll be back in less than a heartbeat but that's all Aluravest needs. He flings himself at the killer, his great blade coming down for a crippling blow, and the crystal on his belt shatters, forcing her to stumble. Her recovery is flawless, but it matters not. His blade bites deep, spilling her guts across the floor.
then it doesn't. She is suddenly whole and hale and inside his reach. Aluravest freezes in shock at the impossible feat of witchery, his examination of suprise turning into a scream as the killer strikes. Her blade becomes a blur and sinks deep into his armpit through the gap in his armor, her speed impossibly overcoming the nature of his shield. The world collapses upon his wounded shoulder and his shield arm Falls to the floor. With a roar of rage, Aluravest strikes at the son, and finds his blade skittering across an inhuman shield, and feels the killer's bite upon his exposed back. Aluravest feels fear for the first time in centuries. With a desperate cry, he assaults the son, hoping to at least evade a True end. The son's blade becomes a blue, striking from impossible angles as if cutting through space itself. Aluravest finds himself falling to the ground, his armor in tatters and his form crippled.
"How! It has been less than a century! How!"
His only reply is a swift and final death.
Relic: Killing blow blade: (damage is not applied to the enemies hp until it is lethal. Damage limited by warp resistance. Double damage pen 16): a sword forged from the moment of death. It will not draw blood until a blow is lethal. Forged to slay those whose might rises as they approach death.
Relic: a single stumble: (negate enemies base dodge chance for one round. +50 to combat roll against that foe for one round. Consumed on use.) a gem containing a single moment of inattention and lose footing. Crystallized and harvested to create a single opening against a skilled foe.
Relic: Sheild of contempt (+4 armor. Automatically defends against pen less than your armor. Half effectiveness against pen higher than your armor.): forged to counter mighty warriors known to possess mere masterwork blades, this shield is composed of contempt for such base weapons
@Durin another omake. someone assumed the oakhearts would not need more than a century to git gud. this was a mistake. thanks to Dynamesmouse for help editing.
No we could not have put Lin in the Webway because the only portal is on Byzantium. And if we put him in the Webway earlier then we lose the ability to research most of the powers we were in the middle of. That is not getting into the fact that we cannot access the Webway on our own.
I think there should be a webway portal on Avernus because the Eldar arrived here 2 days after we called for them. Otherwise seems like they'd have been a lot slower. Plus they got into our city intact when the Angels rule the skies right now.
I think there should be a webway portal on Avernus because the Eldar arrived here 2 days after we called for them. Otherwise seems like they'd have been a lot slower. Plus they got into our city intact when the Angels rule the skies right now.
IIRC they checked and said they couldn't find any.
However, there is one in deep space which is probably close to us which was where they came from. With their improved warp drives vs ours they could probably make it.
I think there should be a webway portal on Avernus because the Eldar arrived here 2 days after we called for them. Otherwise seems like they'd have been a lot slower. Plus they got into our city intact when the Angels rule the skies right now.
They are faster than us in every setting warp and real space their speed is much better than our own they got to the closest intact portal and then "ran" to Avernus as fast as possible.
IIRC they checked and said they couldn't find any.
However, there is one in deep space which is probably close to us which was where they came from. With their improved warp drives vs ours they could probably make it.
They are faster than us in every setting warp and real space their speed is much better than our own they got to the closest intact portal and then "ran" to Avernus as fast as possible.
The getting to the surface part is significant though. If they can fly from orbit to surface without being intercepted with 50 million troops then just using whatever transports they brought to relocate our forces around would be its own very valuable addition to our tactics here. Since normally once a daemon incursion starts our ability to relocate troops is almost nullified.
Those transports could move our heroes around, or pick up the Ancient One and bring him to Dis when the Exalted start attacking.
