My apologies for the long delay, I've been in a bit of a creative funk. Would it be fine to try and summarise results into well...results summaries and just focus on interesting plot developments rather than include the entirety of the action plan in the scene? It'd make it easier until I stop feeling like I'd rather succumb to the void of oblivion than carry on.
[X] Plan: Slay Khorne
[1]: Force annihilation (destroy as much of the foe as possible)
[2]: Objective capping (Use your foresight to determine points of strategic interest and deal with them)
[3]: Lockdown (Stop the enemy from enjoying freedom of movement by eliminating their infrastructure to support it and choking the avenues they're using to move)
[4]: Search and Rescue (Find civilians trapped in enemy territory and save them)
[5]: Ally assistance (try to shore up the efforts of friendly military forces and pick up more team members to get eight people)
Team Tactics
--The team should prioritize their efforts on destabilizing and dispelling the Chaos Ritual of the Blades of Khorne.
--Let the Doom Slayer act as the speartip of the advance; follow his advance.
--Duodecimarchs and Alyrsero should prioritize organics and let Vista deal with mechanical foes.
--Samus should prioritize on taking down any attacking Space Pirates during the team's advance onto the Blood Temple.
--Send the Gunships to cover the team's approach on the Blood Temple and in turn assist ARC and Sentinel assaults.
--Contact team 4 to consolidate with us into a single force around team one if able, as we advance on the Blood Temple. Advise teams two and three to join the Blood Ravens in their fight against the Protectorate.
Character Actions
--Arne should comfort Samus' anxieties and act as an anchor against the bloodlust of Khorne.
--Vista should keep close to Arne so he can meatshield for her. Prioritize destroying any attacking Protectorate forces.
--Sevrin should try to rein in Agafya's combat high before joining Doomguy in killing the daemons.
--Alyrsero should try to scry enemy intentions and in turn advise the rest of the team on dealing with Khorne.
-- Samus should slice into Space Pirate comm channels and patch any relevant info to available allies. Conversely, try to convince Trazyn to commit forces to the fight.
-- Agafya should target enemy champions to defeat.
-- Taylor should keep close to Doomguy so he can meatshield for her. In addition, she should direct her minions to support each member of the team and any other of the teams if they are joined with team 1.
-- Doomguy: Rip and Tear.
Other Team Priorities:
Team 2:
[x]: Ormothin (Exodite Eldar jade mage, best heals and supports, makes your booboos go away very quickly while he's on the field, can make plants into allies and empower allies with the strength of life itself. Okayish at melee.)
[x]: Idaliryn (Lumineth Swordknight, close quarters blender with a mix of offensive and support magic but limited crowd control. Cooperative bonus with all Eldar.
[x]: Clarioli (Ithilyani factor-mage, crafter, has a lot of robots, will get random crafting ideas from deployment, very tanky and good at most ranges, great against tech based foes. Bonus with all Eldar)
[x]: Clockblocker (Parahuman striker, with enhancements and explorer suit is quite durable, versatile, and fast and is able to remove select combatants from the fight temporarily or lethally clothesline them with his cables.)
[x]: Silverbolt (Autobot aerialbot, aerial focused melee and ranged combatant; very effective against organic enemies. Good cooperative bonus with Samus)
[x]: Korlanil (Ynnari death mage, very good at making things dead, makes bad jokes, can also stop or reverse death with some effort, gets power from people dying near him. Bonus with all Eldar.)
[x]: Positron (All-rounder incarnate powered tech-user, especially great range damage and support)
[x]: Cerebro (Thinker with amazing powers of deduction, physiology and durability enhanced by restore station, explorer suit, and incarnate shard; all rounder but somewhat low damage combatant, excellent tactician though)
-[1]: Annihilation (Destroy the enemy outright wherever possible. Favours high damage teams.)
-[2]: Civilian defence & rescue (Ensure that civilians and others who don't want to be there are able to get out safely and don't come under threat)
-[3]: Mop Up (Go through areas where the enemy may have left stragglers or placed sneaky units to clean them out to prevent flanking or encircling)
[1] the Protectorate
[2] the Destroyahs
[3] Blades of Khorne
[4] the Space Pirates
[5] the Rikti
Team 3:
[x]: Bumblebee (Autobot Scout master, reconnaissance and infiltration focused CQC combatant, broadly effective against anything lighter than superheavy. Very good cooperative bonuses with non-adult characters)
[x]: Kaeliyae (Eldar Harlequin Shadowseer, Illusionist and extremely agile close range combatant, very good at turning large numbers of enemies against themselves. Gains a cooperative bonus if deployed with Alyrsero, and a lesser one for all other Eldar characters. )
[x]: Elendria (Aesvaul mage-knight, best tank among the Eldar, very good at stopping squishies from getting hit, hits hard herself especially in close combat, can get ideas for stuff to forge from the encounter.)
[x]: Nightcaster (Debuff and ranged damage focused shadow sorcerer. Strong cooperative bonus with other starsetters.)
[x]: Eudaimonica (Demon-summoning sorceress, all rounder minion focused character, has supports and ranged damage too. Strong cooperative bonus with other starsetters.)
[x]: Windblade (Flying autobot focused on CQC and aerial combat, general purpose combatant and psychic. Works great with bumblebee)
[x]: Penelopye Yin (Primal Earth's most powerful psion, all-rounder)
[x]: Flechette (Extreme armour piercing ranged attacker, squishy in CQC)
-[1]: Commando Ops (Seize important locations or take out important enemy strongpoints such as leaders or vital infrastructure, favours sneakier teams)
-[2]: Civilian defence & rescue (Ensure that civilians and others who don't want to be there are able to get out safely and don't come under threat)
-[3]: Annihilation (Destroy the enemy outright wherever possible. Favours high damage teams.)
[1] the Protectorate
[2] Blades of Khorne
[3] Space Pirates
[4] the Destroyahs
[5] the Rikti
Team 4:
[x]: Dinomax (Metahuman mastermind, summoning, melee damage, and support focused. On one hand, no cooperative bonuses. On the other: D I N O S A U R S)
[x]: Elerya (Yurye Psionic Dominator, masterful crowd control capabilities and incredibly destructive all range combatant though reliant on crowd control for defence. Strong cooperative bonus with Samus, great with the other duodecimarchs.)
[x]: Aronim (Elerya's brother. Melee damage focused psion, decently tanky, hits really, really hard with his psionic abilities in CQC; like just melts things he gets into scraps with and crits out the ass. Strong cooperative bonus with other starsetters, especially Elerya whom he gains a twin bonus with.)
[x]: Kid Win (Masterforce tinker, highly generalistic, good at dealing with tech based enemies. Strong cooperative bonuses with Samus.)
[x]: Lelithax (Ex-Druchii Sorceress, somewhat racist. Heavily debuff and malediction focused caster character who has pretty good defences of her own and can handle herself a bit in melee. Strong cooperative bonus with Alyrsero for being twin siblings. Cooperative bonus with all other eldar characters.)
[x]: Warpath (Megatank Autobot, extremely durable, great firepower, incredible strength and hard hitting prowess. Not very fast, but gives a command bonus to whatever squad he deploys with and works great with autobots.
[x]: Bulkhead (very Tanky melee combat focused Wrecker, Incarnate expert in engineering and fortification)
[x]: Glory Girl (Tanky brawler, augmented by restore station and incarnate power making her shield recover a lot faster, has toughened her flesh to the point of nuke tanking, and multiplying her strength and reflexes considerably, asked for, developed energy projection abilities from her incarnate prowess)
Priorities:
-[1]: Containment (Contain spread of enemy forces, favours tankier teams.)
-[2]: Annihilation (Destroy the enemy outright wherever possible. Favours high damage teams.)
-[3]: Mop Up (Go through areas where the enemy may have left stragglers or placed sneaky units to clean them out to prevent flanking or encircling)
[1] Blades of Khorne
[2] the Protectorate
[3] the Destroyahs
[4] Space Pirates
[5] the Rikti
Sevrin
The task was as always, theoretically simple but practically complex. Take out the ritual of these daemon worshippers, save the city and perhaps the world. Your were committed, you had to spent your life training to be the hero; to be the Paladin in shining armour. You could make the difference, you were good enough to be here. Among heroes and gods and gloried warriors. Perhaps you are just Sevrin, but Sevrin Edgar Agard is no weakling nor coward. He does not shy away, he does not refuse the challenge, even if his star may be forever outshined by those greater than himself. And speaking of.
"Aggie, a word please." You said as the sight of Astartes, Section 13, and Night Sentinel craft overhead dueling with the aircraft and monsters of five armies briefly called your attention upwards before you looked back down, ignoring the sound of a Heldrake crashing into the ground while Samus tore off its head and incinerated its interior in a burst of white hot flashes. Greater warriors than yourself yes...
"What is it?" She said, turning her attention over to you as she pulled away from her recently concluded duel with a duo of Space Pirate Assault troopers, her cannon switching modes as their corpses hit the ground in ashen pieces. Her voice was a bit sweet, curious really, though you had an inkling she had sensed what you were going to say.
"We must move as a unit if we are to carry out this plan of Samus', we can barely keep track of your movements sometimes." You said, taking a moment to check your team's positions on your neuralnet. The Slayer was growing impatient, Taylor was still observing the group, Vista was sticking close with Arne who was virtually glued to Samus and Alyrsero. And you two were off on a tangent.
"I work best in the dark Sevrin. How am I supposed to eliminate the big prey before it reaches you if I stick with the group?" She said, looking towards you as you sighed.
"We need every gun we can have on station Aggie. Besides, the bigger fights will be where the foe must concentrate their firepower, no?" You said, trying to cheer her up when you sensed she was more than a bit sceptical.
"Vista and Alyrsero cannot take hits, if the foe reaches them and we are lacking in those who can draw their attention away, they have little time to pull back before they are dead. Best to deal with the assassins first. Arne and Samus are the frontliners, you and I? We are secondaries. Always will be." She said, almost sounding resentful at that as she sighed and shook her head.
"Aggie, we are equals no? None of us leads." You said, though both yourself and her knew that you didn't really believe that.
"Destiny moves around their threads most tightly, Sevrin. Why take it from them?" She said with a sound of exhaustion in her voice. Not physical, but mental. "I may as well have my fun if I am to live in the shade." She said wryly before you huffed.
"Well...perhaps we could make it a contest? Who will do best in the brawl to come. Or rather who can save the most?" You offered, trying to play to her fun loving side. The thrill of battle and her desire to show that she was someone who belonged in this group of the fantastical.
"Or maybe, we could just see if we can't do more good than we did the last time the four of us fought as one?" You added, it would be better to approach this cooperatively than competetively after all.
"Alright, but try to keep up Sevrin." She said, cocking her arm cannon while you produced your rapier and shield and stepped forwards while the Doom Slayer cracked his knuckles.
"A pleasure to see that you will be joining us. Now keep in mind, the forces of Khorne feed off of violence committed in pointless rage. Never lose sight of the purpose for why you fight. Don't fight simply because you hate the foe. It's alright to have righteous rage in your heart, but it cannot be your sole reason to shed blood." He explained briskly, folding his hands beneath his cloak and looking ahead while you played with the cape that one of the upgrades had added to your armour in response...capes were cool.
"Well, I don't really know these...Cornates, so I think that won't be a problem for me." Taylor said, folding up the wings of her costume.
"Khornates." Alyrsero corrected.
"Gesundheit."
"Es ist keine Zeit für Spiele, jetzt Miss Hebert." That got a blink out of her as she stared briefly at the Eldar before you couldn't help but corpse. Perhaps at the sheer absurdity of your situation as you were making dumb jokes while the world was quite literally getting dragged to hell, but then, how could anyone stay sane if they tried to envision the totality of the suffering people faced every day?
"I've got someone else sending signals...do any of you know someone called Trazyn the Infinite?" Samus said, Alyrsero almost snapping his head towards her as if she had grown a second head, the movement so quick as to create a whiplike sound from the sound barrier's protestations.
"...The Collector. Yes, contact him immediately. His technology would be able to shut down some of the Chaos energies flowing freely from the vortex at the heart of the ritual site. Much besides, the Empathic obliterator would devastate these hive minded monstrosities. I must advise caution though, Pylon fields will quench many more esoterical capabilities and qualities of yourselves, do not get too close to the Pariah stones once the Infinite has made use of them." Alyrsero said with an almost breathtakingly rapid explosion of words that gave you the impression that he didn't consider that a particularly large amount of words to say without pause.
"The Space Pirates will be following us above anyone else, stick close to us, don't stray unless you think you can take them on." Samus said as she pumped her arm cannon while a blood curdling howl roared over the crackle of flames and the strange cries of unusual weapons.
The water from burst pipe mains began to thicken and redden into the iron stink of blood, fire began to take on angrier, more crimson shapes and hues, concrete started to fuse into ivory bone and asphalt into jagged obsidian while steel took on the colour of burnished brass. Rage made the air shudder, scornful and spark with embers that burned and then fizzled in and out of existence. The ground began to fight itself, jagged edges stabbing into and grinding against one another while bestial noises sounded in the distance.
From the veil of the othersea as was seen by your awakened warp-potential and the warp-visor, the Daemons of Khorne tore their way into reality with bloody intent in their hatefilled eyes.
TIme to get dangerous then.
...
You leapt into the fray, Vengeur Solaire in your left hand, cannon sparking to life to fire the miniature suns of the Illmuorath, lances of brilliant radiant energy streaming out in the hateful storyflesh of the daemons who recoiled at the luminous judgement of the Radiant Father made manifest. Daemons crumbled into storystuff pulled into the other side, your HUD giving you a feed on the rest of your team. You had to be careful as the ground changed near you constantly, always seeking blood, trying to gnaw at your shielding whenever you were solid.
Samus was moving with Arne, Vista and the Slayer to take the speartip; the Slayer rushing in with his usual speed, Samus going through a heldrake with her screw attack, Arne pulling a clanking daemon engine like some massive tick to the ground and crushing it, Vista making the footsteps of a horde of machines of bloody red countenance dripping in congealed gore a thousand times shorter before accelerating the Slayer like a cannonball, his impact shattering the soundbarrier and the frame of some mantid like stalk-tank before its pulse lasers could roar to life.
Behind you, Agafya had moved perpendicular to you, taking on a howling three headed greater daemon wreathed in plate armour, a cerberus like werewolf whose backside sprouted five fire fanged serpent heads. The creature's claws made arcs of flame, the narrative of a bloody death for cowards writing itself in the air, you assisted her with a shot of your Illmuorath subweapon, scalding chunks of it away, twisting the story of its being to one of defeat. She took a hit, but she shoved her shashka into the creature's chest after blasting its arm aside with her cannon.
Alyrsero drew in the power of the warp, the crackling energies dancing around the runes he threw up into the air to orbit around him to assist his psychic might, an old power running through both his bloodlines exuding from him and through his staff. It pulsed as he bent fate around to prevent blows by a bloodthrister wielding a massive great axe from landing on Vista, letting her get the lucky hit with a projectile she launched and boosted with her spacewarping abilities to knock the daemon off of one foot, the Eldar twirling his staff and stabbing it through the head to banish it from whence it came.
Taylor was making call outs, pointing where to go with her swarm that was able to survive the hellish conditions, providing extra eyes and ears while she shifted into a cephalopod like form, flying up and then releasing pulsating spheres of darkness. Skeletal Daemons pulled their way from the ground, burning things of bloody bone hungering for skulls, axes in one hand and shields in another. Ranged attacks hit them, but not with as much force as they should, almost diminished somehow.
"Daemons are living stories, you can rarely slay the villain of the narrative with so impersonal a tool. Strike closer!" Alyrsero shouted as he weaved out of a line of swings, spinning his two headed spear to stop brass hammers swung by thick bodied rhinoceros like monstrosities made of living metal from hitting him. Taylor grimaced, you could sense her unease as the Slayer ran around a Minotaur in powered plate armour, double barelled shotgun getting it to stagger repeatedly before he grabbed it by the horns and threw it into the mass of Brazen Maulers swarming Alyrsero.
She entered black dwarf form and smashed fists meant to be swung against the gravity of a pulsar into the mass, roaring to call the attention of foes to herself to break themselves against her degenerate matter hide. You moved in to help, letting her take the front while you struck at foes approaching her from the rear, a graceful swing of your blade splitting open many more daemons. Your rapier dancing around the sizzling arcs of a fire-red heated hellblade, striking into the blade and then breaking it with a twist before hacking the Bloodletter apart, as you had hundreds of its kin.
Yet they kept coming to the sounds of violence. They died gladly, their forms disintegrating into whatever hell they crawled out of to petition their lord to return to the materium at some point. There was nothing to be lost but some standing. They would be back, and all of this; this was just their chance to burn something that would stay burnt.
You could see it in the eyes of a herald; a Bloodtaker of Khorne who swung a blade in each hand. More skilled than many of the Bloodthirsters you had fought. Through the holes of its helm, you could see a burning desire to take your head, it was all it existed to do. It was all it could do.
You sent blazing agony into its body with a stab through its shoulder after breaking through its guard, pulling back to avoid the swings of the other three of its kind who had come to try and mob you, attempting to get at Taylor who was being swarmed with skinless bloodred reptilian dogs, all trying to chomp into her body, sinking teeth into her neutronium hide even though such should have been impossible. She yelpt as she bled, a hide that had shrugged off everything before punctured even in small part making her react with quick anger and slamming her foes into each other.
But they did not fall, twisting themselves back into fighting shape, the Daemon fighting through anathema to its nature to try and stab into you, your shielding flashing as its layers took the hit. Even through all of your defenses you could feel a burning hatred, the flames of anger writhing like a beast. A monster on the other side, a story of gory slaughter wrapped around a snarling thing of teeth and blades.
You danced, it swung, you were faster, your strikes deadlier, your skill greater. Blades that had felled space marines and aspect warriors failing to find a gap in your defences trained by timeless elders who made you the superior of those with millions of years of experience in technique. You struck home, feeling the storyflesh part around your blade before you cut apart. It parted, broke asunder, pieces of its story carved away by the solar avenger and hacked apart as it was split in twain and thrown into the abyss of the empyrean with wounds it would never heal.
But they were not intimidated by it, blood must be shed, as it always was and always had to be. And the greater the warrior, the more worthy the skull to present to the skull throne. You saw it now, the fury, the murderlust that would rage until there was nothing left to satiate it on. You could feel the violence in your chest, hear its thunder in your ears, sense its quake in your gut, taste its bloody fruit in your mouth.
Kill everything, kill them all. Kill because you hate them. Slaughter because you cannot stand to look at the things in front of you. Fight because you cannot go another day knowing that the evil in front of you exists. Kill, because the only meaningful thing to do with life is end it.
No, you would not. You looked back, at the city, the fire, the screams, the shattered lives and broken bodies. You looked at your allies and friends. Taylor who stood valiantly against a swarm of winged daemons that ripped their way free from the bloody carcass of a muscle bound cultist in the tatters of a police uniform once his blood was shed, teleporting the people on the other side away. You saw Samus and Arne standing back to back, fire leaping from their arm cannons as they spun in a circle, arm in arm, a torrent of multi-coloured beam death that consumed Destroyah warrior forms crawling towards them, giving Vanguard troops a chance to pull back before being overwhelmed.
Agafya who dragged a space pirate spider commando-tank back off of its feet through its strong-force adhesive systems towards you, for your luminous weapons to annihilate after freezing with your secondary weapons so that Autobot forces trying to advance through were not overwhelmed by the skittering apartment complex sized monstrosity. Vista, who was holding back the vast masses of the protectorate who were trying to pour in from the side, threatening to swarm over the ramparts that were keeping civilians beelining towards Alyrsero's infinity gate torn open by his telekinesis safe.
You were fighting for a reason, for a purpose beyond mere fury against what was in front of you. To protect friends, to protect allies, to shelter those who were not able or ready for a fight of this scale. So that one day, this place would never have to fear things such as these.
Okay maybe not the Doom Slayer who was already knee deep in daemons crumbling around him.
...
Overview
The Khornates were butchers without restraint or purpose. The simple act of slaughter in acts of rage was enough to fuel them. Aronim, being a user of psionic melee methods, could feel it in his bones, his heart beating like a drum and his mind screaming as he tried to shut out the inferno like fury of the blades of the Blood God. A cape with the ability to shift their matter structure down to the subatomic level who had been keeping up with them; shifting their body into forms able to shrug off nuclear weapons with only a bit of being tossed around found that the Khornates were all to willing to finish the job the space pirates had started with almost disemboweling them if it weren't for Dinomax and Lelithax's abilities to heal them.
A berserker that stood like some manner of giant chopped through a Vanguard Mystic Swordmaster, swinging their axe through a gap in the impervium armour to tear open their neck rushed them before anyone could get to the cape. A swing with the axe released a cutting shockwave that carved its way through some of Eudaimonica's demons whose hellborn bodies fell in heaps. Elerya; busy with trying to hold back the barrage of shellfire from the looming shapes of chaos titans, could not spare the attention to the berserker while also shutting out the psionic noise of hatred and protectorate screeching.
Aronim tried to move, just a bit too slow, the Berzerker's fist snapping into a motion to block Aronim's wrist generated psi-blade before the daemon axe in their other hand split the mattershifter cape in twain. One, two, three slices that carved someone who should have been hard as the diamond core of a white dwarf in raggedy halves, the axe drinking the blood it spilled before shrieking as it swept around to him. Sonic whipcracks racing imperceptibly slow between the two of their movements as the mouthpiece of the helmet made fangs and roared at the boy. He tried his best to intercept the frenzied swings of the Berzerker, but a blow landed onto his vondun crab armour's shoulder and screamed its way into the symbiont's bio-metal carapace.
"Your skull will be younger than most offered to him, but will find a place of honour all the same." The Champion snarled as the other hand's lightning claws clasped into place and stabbed forwards, trying to burn their way through the Yurye's armour. He was scared, he could feel the desire to rip his blood out of his veins screaming at him, he could see the fire and blood in all directions, the Berzerker's armour splattered with the viscera of many species, even blue energon.
Chris had other ideas, and the Berserker was forced to turn around and intercept a blast from a massive accelerator cannon that would have overpenetrated a row of skyscrapers, striking into it with his daemon axe long enough to shift it away and get around the blue-white blast. Aronim took the chance and threw a telekinetic purple construct of a fist before swinging a psi-lash that struck the champion upside the head, throwing them aside for Lelithax to tear open a pit of shades and give them a taste of the howling vortex of darkness that hungered for all light and solidity.
Aronim panted, looking at Glory Girl holding up the foot of a massive mechanical spider leaking blood from the joints of its red brassy body, trying to stop it from stomping down on Bulkhead who was nursing an injury from a Pirate Commando whose lower half was right next to him. The machine then shuddered and fell over, its lower half missing after a series of bright flashes and a devastating collision, Samus walking forwards and offering a wave; offering her handto Victoria as she shoved the jet sized leg of the machine aside.
"Glad you could make it..." She said, her voice quiet. Trying to swallow her emotions.
"Hey Samus...are you hurt at all?" Victoria asked, voice clearly filled with concern as she was met with a shrug.
"I'm fine. But this city...can you rebuild it, with the technology you have?" She asked, sorrow tinging her tone.
"Well...they could rebuild Warsaw and Hiroshima. It might be worth a try." She said, folding her arms and smiling.
"Hey...I don't know about you but, I think I'm....starting to mentally tucker out." Aronim breathed, sucking in air and letting it back out through the filters of his helmet, the bio-metal of his armour regenerating. The screaming could still be heard at the back of his mind, a warmth that threatened to overwhelm all sense and a drive to push him to take out every frustration he could. Why help this stupid city full of stupid people who just stupidly let stupid villains do whatever they want and every stupid person seems to be wallowing in despair? Why not just let it burn....why....
Because he was born of fire too. It was hard to shut out the anguish of so many dying people. But he couldn't let every voice in, or he'd not function at all. Like humans, Yurye were not bred for war. Anguish and angst gnawed at his soul, and the laughter of hungering daemons echoed in the back of his mind as he looked at his gauntleted hands and saw red all over his armour. He was a killer now, he had taken the step of ending lives. A step he was always scared of taking...especially when he realised that doing so let him quench some of the hurt.
"I've got...ughn....the closer I get to the ritual the louder it gets. And I...I'm not sure if I can do this you know? I usually fight like, people. Or at least things with goals and speeches and...this is just..." He wheezed, doubling over, his psionic wings dim.
"We have to go ahead. We can't stop when we're so close to ending this. It's not time for a break when there's so much at stake! There's already been so much destroyed, we can't just slow down now!" Samus said, Elerya descending near her brother after Imperial Titans had relieved her of the need to fight their chaotic counterparts, strain apparent in the colour of her thoughts as she almost stumbled when she landed.
"Samus...you might be a war machine but we're just, superheroes you know? Most of the fights we have aren't even with people who want to seriously hurt us. Just, give us a minute and we'll catch up." She said, keeping her composure as best as she could.
"No! If we leave you behind you'll-" Samus shouted.
"What?" Elerya asked.
"You'll die if you stay behind." She said more quietly.
"Nobody gets split up." She said, trying to look away from the towering creatures of warpflame dueling with equally towering things of hellfire summoned by Eudaimonica; away from the space pirate strafing runs, away from the towering things of metal and nanites, away from the monstrous roars of primordial shellbeasts, away from the Alien-Hybrid war machine relentlessly pressing its advance. Just at the ground, where she couldn't see the blazes, couldn't see the heat and hate.
"We can handle ourselves. You've got a warshade with you. We can just get teleported to you if well...if things get bad....worse then they are now." She said.
"Besides, you've got someone knee deep in the dead already." She said, gesturing to the Slayer who had busily extracted a blazing sword of hellish energy from the form of a possessed chaos space marine.
"We'll catch up...promise..." She said as Samus turned and sighed before nodding as Arne cut in rather literally, sliding down the sliced halves of a massive tick like warmachine.
"We need to go, the..." Arne said before the clouds of the sky began to congeal into a rain of blood, Pirate Commando teams dropping in via teleport nearby, a thunderclap and a wave of orange lights cutting into the swarm of hellthings crawling from the bloodstorm.
Many unprotected beings caught in the hell rain though began to change, twisting, shaping into things of brutal red muscle and sinew and eyes filling with the flames of rage, others taking on more bonelike, brassy, fiery, volcanic, militarised or other such abhorrent transformations as the power of Khorne started to wax and the faint image of a great flaming skull wrote itself into the sky.
"...They're going to...I'll let Alyrsero explain." Arne said.
"They will seek to turn this planet into a daemon world and from there plunge an ever larger portion of this galaxy, likely beyond, into a realm of Khorne. I'm not sure how, or why this planet in particular, but the Khornates will soon be ready to release a rage plague that will drive a widening area into the hate maddened things you're seeing now; the world will drown in its own blood and the warp will swallow the planet." The Eldar said briskly over the communications link.
"Mrhm, the Space Pirates are also preparing a negation-bomb." Agafya said over the link, the sounds of crunching bodies confirming she was still in the middle of a fight.
"...Negation bomb? That sounds bad like...negating what?" Victoria said.
"Thought Negation Bomb. It's a psionic decimation device that kill all unshielded living things capable of thought, mechanical or organic, matter or energy. Very effective against thought based beings like these ah...Daemons yes?" Sevrin said.
"Based on the device type I estimate a blast radius of about...hrm maybe analogy will work better. If you are closer to Los Angeles than Vancouver is well...poof. The four of us would survive but ah, most of you will not be so lucky." Sevrin added, trying to maintain good cheer.
"...Wait, like...a Halo device?" Chris asked.
"...From the video game?" Arne asked, clearly confused.
"Come on man we beat legendary co-op together don't do this to me." Chris said, flinching at the sound of some titanic thing roaring as it bulldozed into an equally titanic machine, looking over to see a Destroyer the size of a Skyscraper knock into a Chaos Warbringer class titan. "Shit...." He muttered under his breath as fists slammed into one another with enough force to cause buildings to crumble to dust around them, laser horn slamming into an evil aura of blood and hate.
"...Wasting time!" Samus hissed.
"Hey, wheeljack here, if you can get me to that bomb I think I could reprogram it, focus it on just the daemons. Now, some of you might be able to do it, but well; you guys are more needed fighting." An autobot voice crackled in.
"What would that do?" Kid Win asked, turning straight to Alyrsero as Vista panted by his side and Aronim slowly picked himself up to his feet.
"Give us enough of an opening to dispel the Bloodstorm before it goes critical. I expect that their goreseers and Skull-Marshals will be wise to the trick and a fight will be on our way however." Alyrsero said, breathing hard before he flicked his head over towards the sight of a massive dark red and bone coloured war machine tossing a large protectorate tank aside, nanites crumbling in its right claw.
"We have secured much of this city, young warriors. I am Commander Davian Thule of the Imperium of the Novem Imperium, I ask that you point the Blood Ravens to the foe so that we may bring this terror to its appointed end." He boomed with a deep baritone. Accompanying him was Akia, a High Librarian of the Chapter, the skull helmed Diomedes, Black-plated Master of Sanctity of the Chapter, and Grand Librarian Mystra; her own Dreadnought body comparable in scale to Thule's own, though painted blue as was the Librarium's traditions.
Then more of them, an entire conclave of Librarians and Battle Wizards of the Blood Ravens, clad either in blue or the colour of their associated wind of magic. Squads of psykers ready to clear a path through the darkness, with a throng of terminators, close combat experts, and dreadnoughts ready to make the push.
Samus took a moment to look upon the space marines, hesitant, feeling the intention of violence woven into their bodies, a coiled predator waiting to be unleashed. Created for war and all things relating to it. Yet they would need her to be the spear and the shield into the maelstrom of this crisis.
"We have overheard what your Eldar has said. We do not have much time left." He said as he rotated the barrels of the massive gatling gun on his other arm, already scanning for a target.
"With me." Samus said, gulping and looking at the continually worsening frenzy spreading from the centre of orange county.
...
The Slayer was already there, his double barelled steel sword belching a spray of hate into the snarling face of a winged creature red in tooth and claw dripping blood, stunning it long enough for his doom blade to emerge from his other hand and stab into the chest of the creature and pull up as it disintegrated around his killing tool.
He could feel that they were not the same demons he was used to fighting. Creatures of story and emotion rather than sin and folly.
He didn't care in the slightest, the demonic that dared to raise its tools in anger against those who could not fight back had no place in this world. They were wrath, fury, rage, and anger. He was all those things, but try as they might, he could not be tempted. Khorne had nothing to offer him, and the divinity shard within him locked his anger to himself. They would get nothing from him.
And they deserved nothing. Why should they get a damn thing when they've left this sort of ruin? This charnel house of the pig-stench of the dead and the dying, these twisted things of chaos and self-destructive fury that would only end in their own deaths. This abattoir of fire, blood, brass, and skulls?
No...they wouldn't get anything from him, nothing but what they had coming to them.
The girl with the green cannon was approaching him, he could feel fury in her own heart. It was impossible not to, not with the way she tore into the aliens who seemed to delight in finding those who could not fight back on equal terms with them, the way they danced around their victims, making them hurt before digging in for the crimson feast. He could see in those young eyes something he recognised.
Loss, grief, rage, and a profound thirst for justice.
He was impressed, giving her a nod of approval as she smashed one of the insectoid troopers heads into the pavement faster than their teleport out could stop its skull and helmet from disintegrating into plasma from the violence of the impact of her hand and its face into the ground. He could respect that fury, as long as she knew where to turn it.
He would have to keep an eye on these ones, see where they were going, how they were progeressing. Taking a Daemon pushed towards him by the shockwaves from one of her tackle and running it through with his blade, turning his plasma gun around to pepper a Space Pirate trooper long enough to make it turn towards him and let Samus smash into them with the frenzy of energy represented by her screw attack. Shielding and armour and bodies crumbling into bosons and preons as she frontflipped through.
They were a blaze, a torch, a spear through the darkness. And the girl who was two; brown hair, shifting forms, making call outs from what she could see with the insects she filtered her mind through in tandem with the visions and technology of the others; she seemed almost eager to show she could handle this. There was fear there, she almost panicked when engaged by a bloodthirster, but she was brave enough to stay in the game, coordinating with the others to take down the red thing of hate and fury.
But there was something in the way. Always something in the way, another foe falling before him as he took a moment to scan and realise the threat before him as bloody carcasses and the bones of the fallen were pulled together to something pushing against the skin of reality, feeling the empyrean twist and bend as Eldar and Space Marine tried to seal the wounds in the skin of the materium.
But Alyrsero fell to the ground with agonised sounds as he was slammed back by whatever was pushing through, Vista, Taylor, Clockblocker, and the other merely human heroes came down to a knee, and an autobot trooper fell over, blood leaking from every socket in an impossible display as tendrils grabbed onto the metal and used them to shape the body of what sought to come through.
Metal twisted into plate, and a hand of red and brass grabbed at the haft of an axe, clad in plate armour stenciled with scenes of violence and wreathed in flame. A helmed head like a skull with horns of blades sneered out at the world, magmatic heat roiling from its body like some beast of revelations as the ground melted into pools of fiery blood and molten brass around it. Lava like runes glowed on its armour, and a tail that ended in a flail flicked from its posterior while wings of spears and blades spread from its back.
At its side came eight other daemons, its praetorian guard, one a bloodthirster wielding a massive two handed axe. One a three-headed lupine creature known as a Cerbergore with claws that crackled with flame. One a thing of fire and ash with a face twisted with hate known as a Pyroclasm. One a living volcano with the proportions of an ogre and a halberd of fury called an Obsidian Destroyer. One an eight limbed scorpion thing with six arms, two ending in scythe blades, two in pincers, and two in carapaced fists with a barbed tail called a Scorporath. One a Brass monster with a heavy gun and a wicked maul known as a Brass Beast. Another a beast of bones and gristle with a skull head wielding hammer and shield dubbed a Skullking. And finally a humanoid heap of weapons and armour in the shape of a massive armour plated humanoid warrior with massive guns emerging from its arms known as a warmaker.
Each of its guards a captain of greater daemons in its own right, bound to the mighty Grand Prince before them.
"I am Kashragar the Eviscerator, Destroyer of a Thousand Galaxies. Your advance into the Blood God's chosen sacrifice ends here." She said with barely constrained menace as her guards called forth their own lieutenants and sergeants, Samus pushing the Slayer behind her so that she would be the first to confront them.
"Child of tragedy...why come here for a world not your own? How many more important battles do you waste by coming here? To fight for these striplings who so desperately need you to give them aid and succour." She said with a voice like a feminine grumbling volcano and grinding metal.
"Because everyone who cries for help when the night comes for them or trembles in outrage at every injustice is my friend." She said with anger boiling inside.
"Naive." She snarled back.
Situation:
With the aid of the Blood Ravens, Section 13, Necrons, and Autobots the city is now 75% clear of threats.
A Grand Daemon Princess and her escort are challenging Samus before they are able to cross to seal the blood tide.
Space Pirate forces are rallying for a special operation.
The Protectorate's summoner has been destroyed by Tarkus' strike teams.
The Destroyahs are in retreat with the deployment of cryogenic heroes.
The Rikti are hunkering down to dig in for the long war.
The Khornates are surging forward with the blood rain.
Team emotional state is steady.
All characters at full health.
Team B is ready to fight.
Team C and D are still occupied with leftover protectorate forces.
Options
Team Strategy: Pick five priorities and set from greatest to least.
[]: Civilian Defence (Defend civilians at the line of battle)
[]: Search and Rescue (Find civilians trapped in enemy territory and save them)
[]: Reconnaissance (find out where the foe is and what they're doing)
[]: Force annihilation (destroy as much of the foe as possible)
[]: Ally assistance (try to shore up the efforts of friendly military forces and pick up more team members to get eight people)
[]: Objective capping (Use your foresight to determine points of strategic interest and deal with them)
[]: HQ elimination (look for and kill important enemy characters, units, and structures to weaken their overall efforts)
[]: Fire Break (Contain any enemy advances and eliminate these pockets of advance to keep frontlines stable
[]: Lockdown (Stop the enemy from enjoying freedom of movement by eliminating their infrastructure to support it and choking the avenues they're using to move)
[]: DISTRACTION CARNIFEX!!! (Make the most noise possible to pull as much attention to yourselves as you can, drawing forces away from allies and civilians at obvious risk to yourself.)
Write in Team Tactics and Character Actions:
Write in specific tactics for the team to try such as ordering gunship bombing runs, attempting tandem warp attacks, certain patterns of attack the team should try out like the duodecimarchs clearing out organics to let Vista wreck mechanical foes or vista stretching space to let Alyrsero's casting reach farther than it should.
Then write in one specific action for each of the six characters such as say: Arne should comfort Samus' anxieties, Vista should keep close to Arne so he can meatshield for her, Sevrin should try to rein in Agafya's combat high, Alyrsero should try to scry enemy intentions or show Samus some tricks in the warp to learn how to divine foes better, Samus should try to slice into Rikti comm channels, or Agafya should go kill some big units. You could also try to use their smarts to set up some sort of device or cunning trick.
Other Team Priorities: (Same as last post's)
(Order priorities for the team on a per-team basis. 1 will be pursued unless impossible, 2 will be pursued unless it contradicts 1, 3 will only be pursued when there is nothing else to do or if it would not distract from 1 and 2. If applicable, such as with Annihilation, state enemies in order of preference to focus on.)
Enemy factions:
Blades of Khorne
Space Pirate Confederacy
Rikti Lineage of War
Destroyah Swarm
Electronic Protectorate Infinite Army
[]: Containment (Contain spread of enemy forces, favours tankier teams.)
[]: Denial (Prevent the enemy from seizing certain points or items of interest)
[]: Mop Up (Go through areas where the enemy may have left stragglers or placed sneaky units to clean them out to prevent flanking or encircling)
[]: Civilian defence & rescue (Ensure that civilians and others who don't want to be there are able to get out safely and don't come under threat)
[]: Commando Ops (Seize important locations or take out important enemy strongpoints such as leaders or vital infrastructure, favours sneakier teams)
[]: Annihilation (Destroy the enemy outright wherever possible. Favours high damage teams.)
