Reality screams as the Ruinous Ones come, an ear-piercing elegy composed by ten thousand years of decay and countless tormented souls. On a dozen worlds, worlds blessed with plentiful populations and relative safe harbour in this most benighted of realms, the Empyrean turns its baleful eye.
And it laughs. A chorus of laughter. The laughter of gods, who shall see the wheel of fate turn as it always has: in their favour.
[The Unbound Crusade Has Arrived!]
[The Elegy of the Damned: Rolling…]
And the under-trodden, the oppressed, the mutant and the mad rise up.
----
The Strategium of the
Vermillion Incarnadine is busier than Aurelius is used to. Lexmechanics work the voxlinks and the hololiths, the staff of the Lord General and Lord Admiral alike rush to and fro in a hurry with reports and missives aplenty, all the while the tactical staff of the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy alike constantly debate the next course of action, all the while reports from the front trickle in. The scent of incense is heavy in the air, and wards have been erected all over, more than usual; the pall of corruption hangs heavily over the room, it seems.
And as often is the case with the Archenemy, the mood is well warranted. Heretics and cultists, given succor and dark power by the traitors en route, have risen up to disrupt the defenses, despite the work that Quintor has already done in the years prior. While local commanders have tried to maintain their reserves, the Guard deployed to the worlds of Halvig and Trantor are already engaged. A number of heretics among Halvig's worlds have even raided PDF depots and acquired proper wargear; some of them from the world of Nuv's Rest are even traitor PDF, believing that the Imperium intends to exploit their world further.
Idly, Aurelius makes a note to have a squad dispatched to Nuv's Rest. It seems a Governor will have to be shot for incompetence. He will have to trust that the Guardsmen there can hold the line long enough.
[Halvig Defenders at 84%]
[Trantor Defenders at 92%]
[Braxis Defenders at 96%]
----
[Subsector Halvig]
Defender Bonus: +35 (Capable Imperial Guard, Karandan Skyblades, Weakened Defenses, One Company of Warhawks)
Attacker Bonus: +35 (Lost and the Damned, Nurgle's Gift, Traitor PDF, The Slaughter of Terenax)
----
In the first week, Nuv's Rest burns. The capital, an Agri-turned Civilised World, the heart of the subsector, and the site of its greatest defense, is buried under the relentless bulk and pressure of Nurgle's lot.
It, and half the worlds in Subsector Halvig, are put to the sword of rot and decay within seven days.
At first, the question is deceptively simple:
How?
Rolled 74 vs 43 125
And reports from battlefields all over the Subsector indicate, without a doubt, that the enemy seems uncannily prescient upon every single region. The Traitorous PDF, armed with some measure of knowledge of the world's defensive strategy, are able to dismantle key portions of the defensive line. The airborne plagues unleashed upon each world further cripple any efforts to regroup and close ranks.
The relentless march of the Slaughter of Terenax and the plague-touched cultists that marched with them did the rest.
Despite the efforts of the Warhawks, whose valour is without question.
[Halvig Defenders at 48%]
----
Amidst the capital hive of Numidius, a hulking monster dripping with bile and pus squats over the body of a fallen Warhawk. Each drip hisses and sizzles as it melts through rockcrete and ceramite and plasteel alike, eating through anything it touches.
The monster, who towers over even the dead Space Marine, lifts one arm, wrapped with spiked chains coated with toxins of every sort, then plunges it through the dead man's plastron. It crumples like cardboard, decayed to the point of uselessness by poison and entropy. Without even a grunt, the monster tears his fist free, the organ in his grasp still dripping with fresh blood. With a low chuckle, the monster lifts his helm, deigning to feast upon one of the hearts of his 'cousins'.
It bursts in his hands. Shrapnel glances off his armour, off his chains, sinks uselessly into the bare flesh on his face. The monster looks up coldly at the one who shot it, still totting the massive boltgun in his hands.
"Have I interrupted something?" The giant in white asks. The Turbo Maximus in his hands howls again. Something explodes in the monster's chest, causing ooze and grisly fluids to leak from his wounds. The monster cares not. "Have you nothing better to feast on, than the flesh of angels?"
The monster rises. He laughs darkly. "There is nothing better
to feast upon,
brother." he wriggles the fingers on his right hand, a pus-coated Lightning Claw, while the left loosens some of the chains wrapped around it. "The finest game in the galaxy. Nothing so chewy like Ork, or too crunchy like Eldar."
"A connoisseur, then?" Chief Apothecary Omelcus Phoro of the Warhawks shoulders his Turbo Maximus and holds out a Thunder Hammer instead, crackling with gravitic power. "How droll."
"One must have hobbies,
brother. To live is to be content." The Warlord of the Slaughter of Terenax, Teremedes Seven-Genocides, cackles as he lurches towards Omelcus, one heavy step at a time. "And today, I seek the flesh of
Guilliman."
"You desecrate nothing today! Die, Teremedes!"
----
The battle of Hive Numidius was already lost by the time Omelcus Phoro and the brave souls of Squad Raximus engaged Teremedes Seven-Genocides. The Chief Apothecary, filled with terrible fury at the loss of Squad Galtheon, sought to reclaim their Gene-Seed and to delay the enemy advance both.
[Chief Apothecary Omelcus Phoro vs Chaos Lord Teremedes Seven-Genocides]
6 vs 2
Heroic Survival: Rolled 97
He bought an hour, and was able to recover the body and armour of Sergeant Galtheon. In that time, he was able to inflict many grave wounds upon the warlord Teremedes, and for that he suffered many wounds. He lost an arm below the elbow, as well as two lungs. The Sus-An Membrane has claimed him. He will not see another battle in the Unbound Crusade, unless matters become truly desperate upon Nuv's Rest.
Unfortunately, the Chaos Lord Teremedes will see many more battles, and perform many more genocides, for what wounds he suffered by Omelcus' hand had already begun healing by the time Sergeant Raximus dragged him and his squad away, along with Sergeant Galtheon's body.
Sergeant Galtheon's Gene-Seed was corrupted by taint, and could not be recovered. His body would be disposed of. He would leave no legacy but the deeds he performed and the brothers he left behind.
----
[Subsector Trantor]
Defender Bonus: +45 (Capable Imperial Guard, Karandan Skyblades, Intact Defenses, Two Companies of Warhawks)
Attacker Bonus: +20 (Lost and the Damned, The Seekers of Passion, Slaanesh's Gift)
----
Rolled 81 vs 63 66
The War for Subsector Trantor was far less involved. Though cultists were able to pressure Imperial forces prior to the arrival of the Unbound Crusade's forces, under the command of Lord General Otto von Moltke and Chapter Master Vectris Dahl they were able to reform and engage the traitor forces effectively. Imperial Forces continue to hold out against the Seekers of Passion, even successfully inflicting heavy casualties upon enemy forces with numerous sallies.
Chapter Master Vectris Dahl has also engaged the Chaos Lord of the Seekers of Passion.
[Trantor Defenders at 76%]
----
[Chapter Master Vectris Dahl vs Chaos Lord Sigismund the Swift]
"Know me by my best name! I am Sigismund, and--"
Rolled 97 vs 25
The Lord of the Warhawks does not yawn, for any battle could be his last. Nevertheless, traitors die by his hammer and he is no exception. The
Fist of Roboute swings, crashes, and splatters the heretic across the sands of Resmik, heart and capital of Subsector Trantor.
"Like a slower Asterion," Dahl muses. He sighs. Perhaps he should have joined the Hammer instead.
Chaos Lord Sigismund of the Seekers of Passion has been Slain
----
[Subsector Braxis]
Defender Bonus: +40 (Capable Imperial Guard, Karandan Skyblades, Intact Defenses, One Company of Warhawks)
Attacker Bonus: +35 (Blood Pact, Khorne's Blessing, The Crimson Slaughter)
----
The War for Subsector Braxis should have performed the best of the three theatres. Their defenses were untouched. Their cultist uprisings were the least effective. And the forces deployed do not display any of the prescience indicative of precognitive support displayed at either Halvig or Trantor, almost certainly due to the forces deployed here.
Rolled 47 vs 132
Yet, within a week, half the worlds in Braxis have burned, and the gateway to the Sector Fortress of Nygax is all but open. Only two worlds still stand in the way of the Crimson Slaughter, who have slaughtered tens of millions, shed much blood, and claimed many skulls.
The fearsome Blood Pact have been confirmed to be present, supporting the Crimson Slaughter. Their Warlord, Grismus, is possessed of inhuman cunning, a terror on the battlefield. And the Crimson Slaughter have seen fit to send more than just Grismus; two more veterans of the Long War follow him, themselves legends on the battlefield.
And this information was hard won, at great cost.
[Braxis Defenders at 38%]
----
[High Chaplain Login Titurdatus vs Chaos Lord Grismus]
"Come now. Is this the best you can do?"
High Chaplain Login Titurdatus, once of the Ultramarines, now of the Warhawks, growls at the bloodsoaked titan before him, but he is powerless to truly act. His Crozius is on the ground, dropped by his trembling hands after they were struck by the chainaxe the traitor lord wields. Its teeth had not cut through his armour and into his flesh, but the force behind the blow had sapped his strength.
Perfectly measured. Perfectly calculated. Designed to cripple him, to force him to this point. To have trembling hands.
A cunning Khornate. How
vexing.
He draws his combat knife anyways, willing his armour to lock his fingers after they close about the handle. It costs him their dexterity, which will be badly needed in a knife fight, but it is necessary. This way, he has a proper weapon.
"A knife?" Grismus of the Crimson Slaughter is unamused. His helm is frozen into an expression of uncontrollable fury, but the man's tone reeks far more of disappointment. "You may as well surrender your skull to the skull throne now."
"Spare me the lecture, you spineless whelp. Your Chapter's tale of lacking even the resolve to face your failures sickens me." With trembling, crippled hands, Login takes up a knife fighting stance. "Take my life or give me yours!
This is how a Space Marine dies! Defiant!"
Grismus revs the teeth of his Chainaxe. Login transmits orders to the rest of his Chapter upon the world. The last he shall ever give.
25 vs 85
High Chaplain Login Titurdatus of the Warhawks has been Slain
----
By the end of the first week, the situation has already become untenable. Braxis is already on the verge of collapse, and the Unbound Heirs warband has not committed any of their own forces. The Librarians are still trying to divine their location, but it remains clouded. Sorcerers conspire against them, likely the same one that granted two of their theatres precognitive assistance.
A lot of good men, and a lot of Warhawks, are about to die. But Aurelius can intervene. The Crimson Crusaders can deploy to the embattled Subsectors, engage, turn the tide. In all likelihood, their assault will herald the beginning of the Imperial counterattack. Though Chaos had the initiative, the Imperium retains total weight of numbers and overall superiority in Astartes. Victory, once they engage in full force, is all but assured.
But as long as the Unbound Heirs are unaccounted for, committing too soon will limit the effectiveness of the counterattack. Worse, the Warlord of the Crusade might be able to slip the cordon and attack the rest of the Sector, even establish a base and become a perennial headache for the Chapter.
[] Deploy to Subsector Halvig. The Slaughter of Terenax will ruin those worlds with their bioweaponry, and Teremedes Seven-Genocides must be stopped.
[] Deploy to Subsector Braxis. The Crimson Slaughter have already killed millions, and allowing them to continue their reign of slaughter will only bode poorly.
[] Deploy to both Halvig and Braxis. Both Subsectors will fall without relief. The Crusaders will walk the golden path, and save everyone they can, no matter the cost.
-[] Aurelius will deploy to Halvig.
-[] Aurelius will deploy to Braxis.
[] Remain in reserve. The Unbound Heirs remain unaccounted for and are likely the greatest danger. To act now is to play into their hands.
There will be a Six Hour Moratorium
