The good news is that he's not as good in a duel as Vixibis was.
The bad news is that this is because he hits much harder and has a retinue of largely contained Berserkers and crack troops every bit the equal of your Crown Auxilla. Have fun with that.
[X] Plan Saving Captain Lilith 0.1
-[X] Attach 2nd Crown Auxillia Regiment to Third Company
-[X] Forge Pollux Rescue Mission: First Company, Third Company, Fourth Company
-[X] Assassination: Baron the Warsmith
-[X] Spellbreaking
-[X] Strike Raider (50/50)
-[X] Raise a new Storm Crow Infantry Company (30/100)
-[X] Raise a Tower Guard Regiment (50/50)
Forge Pollux was never the most pleasant of places--one of the twin forges of the Oculus Sector, it specialized chiefly in heavy industrial machinery, prefabricated structures--and most importantly of all, guns and armor for local elements of the Imperial Guard. It lacked the high sciences of Forge Castor--and both lacked Azuria's nigh heretekal foresight and stealth techniques.
This is potentially why it fell so quickly against the workings of the Dark Mechanicus--and why it served them so well as a base of industry for their overall campaign. This is why they held onto it so tightly, to the point that Warsmith Baron had personally seen to its pacification.
He waited now, in the repurposed central command bunker. The Skull-and-Cog emblems had been scribbled off, replaced with emblems of the Black Nova Compact--with his own personal seal and that of the Dark Mechanicus inscribed just below it.
Of the Council--he was of the first to sense that there was trouble waiting in the wings. Of the Council, he was quick to recognize that there was a third party involved. Vixibis wouldn't have lost to a mere team of Alien Hunters, nor would his Barge have been brought low by the Imperial Navy before it could reap a heavy toll.
When his allies among the Mechanicus reported signs of their task forces into the Haloward depths of Oculus being lost, he knew what would come next--requisitioning the Adamantine Will, he immediately moved his own forces in, taking command of the theatre--and to his delight, caught the attackers redhanded.
A lost Chapter of Space Marines--here in the Oculus Sector. If they were anywhere near competent however, they'd have managed to punch through his encirclement, or pulled some damnably heroic stand that ended up ruining all of his calculations and needing the board redrawn. This wasn't actually to their detriment of course--the mystery Chapter still managed to have a few squads slip his net, even as most of their Company was accounted for in the kill tallies of his armies.
But they fought like pirates, not Astartes--and when forced into a pitched battle, they could do naught but die. Impressive enough if they could hold the initiative though--anddhe felt it in his bones that they would be reinforced--few outside of the Legions would write off a full Company of their "Brothers" on a losing gambit--and with pirates and raiders, they would be even more reluctant to accept such losses. So it was here that he sequestered himself, all waiting for the other shoe to drop.
58 vs 50. Narrow Failure!
It came in the form of the telltale hum of an activated Power Weapon.
Warsmith Baron lashed out with his gauntlet--catching the extended knife blade there--the Power Field screeched as it dug in a few millimeters--before his Infernal Star's armor reinforcement finally adapted to the frequency and stopped it dead--shattering it with a twist of his wrist. The holder of the knife was a pretty looking lad, with overly long hair.
"I didn't say 'Sneak Attack' this time, didn't I?" He quipped as Baron's backhand flung him away. "Sorry, you killed a bunch of my friends, so I'm not quite in the mood today." His offhand snapped forward, throwing his remaining knife at the Warsmith's uncovered face--only for him to sidestep away from the lightning attack.
"You talk to much" The Warsmith pointed out, and alarms blared out--his honor guard teleporting in from the carefully concealed Homers throughout the room now that his bait was taken. Leave the honorable duels to Vixibis or Taeron--he had a war to win.
And yet...
The sound of battle raged throughout the chamber--and he couldn't help but feel that he was stuck in the crosshairs...
Discretion was the better part of valor he suspected.
++Warsmith Baron to Adamantine Will, I require extraction++
Unshielded teleportations were unpleasant, but he hadn't lived this long by ignoring his instincts. He had plenty of valuable information to return to the Council on this new threat.
Medea cursed as the Warsmith paused, activated his Vox--and snapped out of view with the cracking of a sudden vacuum. Lilith was supposed to kill him if she could, and drive him out into an open corridor for a Terminator Deep Strike to bring him down... But his instincts were good--and by the time her strike team had deployed, he was already gone.
At least they'd get his Honor Guard for the trouble, but the primary target had gotten away free--and the opposing Strike Cruiser was already breaking from orbit.
She hated fighting competent enemies--they always make things worse.
ASSASSINATION FAILED
Lilith and surviving members of 2nd Company Successfully Retrieved. Second Company is down to 10% Strength
Dark Council is now aware of the presence of Storm Crows, and will adjust their schemes accordingly.
Greater Daemon Successfully Avoided. Forge Pollux is now Completely Chaos Controlled. As Greater Daemon was not encountered, no new data was acquired on it.
War Developments:
The Imperial Forces are mustering additional troops to fully secure Cynosure, while deploying scout forces to assess the condition of Enemy-held systems, searching for a weakness. The Deathwatch Team in particular have been conducting reconnisance in force upon the enemy stronghold at Jerichon, gathering a great deal of useful intelligence. Morban the Patriarch in particular is infuriated at how they successfully sabotaged one of his Pestilence Cathedrals, and is currently in pursuit upon the Hades-class Heavy Cruiser "Bilefang"
The few remaining holdouts on Forge Pollux have been destroyed, and the Forge is completely under Chaos control now. Its industry has begun to supply the enemy War Effort.
THE GREATER DAEMON IS RETURNING TO JERICHON
Storm Crow Actions:
(Second Company is at 10% strength, and largely defunct. Will require three turns to return to combat readiness. No new Companies can be raised until this is completed) [ ] Garrison Duty: Protecting your worlds and allies from assault is something you can't ignore even in these troubled times. Select a single teritory (Indagus, Azuria, Sector Capital Titania, Cynosure) [ ] Assassination: Morban the Patriarch: Morban the Patriarch has been enticed out into the open in pursuit of the Deathwatch Strike Cruiser that successfully infiltrated Jerichon and razed several of his pet projects. He's not very happy about this--but it does mean that he's outside the umbrella of his allies. Killing him will eliminate the chance of effective biowarfare attacks, and potentially disupt cohesion among remaining Dark Council members. (60% Chance of drawing him to battle, Deathwatch Team Present, First Company and Medea mandatory)
[ ] Spoiling Attack on Jerichon: The Enemy has summoned a Greater Daemon--you can't actually kill it from behind its allies in the center of its power, but you might be able to reduce its overall strength by attacking the spell diagram that keeps it anchored to the Materium. While the Greater Daemon is gone, there's a high chance of multiple Dark Council members being present here, and engaging them would likely end poorly. Estimated Victory Chance: 50%, 25% chance of getting in and out before the Greater Daemon arrives
Special Action:
With the Second Company largely disrupted, Lilith wants some payback on the Dark Council--she's petitioned to be allowed permission to join the Deathwatch Team in their campaigns across the Sector--due to the difficulties of actually extracting from this kind of high intensity pace however, she will not be available for you to command in the meantime.
[ ] Second Lilith to Deathwatch: Lilith will gain an enormous amount of combat experience, with a moderately good chance of acquiring a Legendary Skill. Deathwatch Team effectiveness increased, Storm Crow Reptuation increased. Lilith will no longer be under Storm Crow command for the remainder of the campaign, small possibility of being killed in action.
Personal Actions (Select One):
[ ] Against the Darkness: The Greater Daemon is too mighty to be overcome with violence alone--and you don't see there being a magic bullet spell to handle it either. However, the libraries of your Tower are extensive--you may be able to glean some insights to help develop a solution, or a weakness, or something (Progress: 0/???) [ ] Spellbreaking: Magic must defeat magic... More or less--though steel is probably a fair substitute if you have enough of it. That being said, more efficient counterspells probably exist, and you simply need to develop the right psi-patterns to implement them. (11/30 Completed)
Resource Expenses Current Output: 200
Current Expenses: 180 (Company Replacements and Repair)
[ ] Raise a Crown Auxillia Regiment (0/100) [ ] Raise a new Storm Crow Infantry Company (0/100)
[ ] Raise a Tower Guard Regiment (0/50)
[x] Assassination: Morban the Patriarch: Morban the Patriarch has been enticed out into the open in pursuit of the Deathwatch Strike Cruiser that successfully infiltrated Jerichon and razed several of his pet projects. He's not very happy about this--but it does mean that he's outside the umbrella of his allies. Killing him will eliminate the chance of effective biowarfare attacks, and potentially disupt cohesion among remaining Dark Council members. (60% Chance of drawing him to battle, Deathwatch Team Present, First Company and Medea mandatory)
[x] Second Lilith to Deathwatch: Lilith will gain an enormous amount of combat experience, with a moderately good chance of acquiring a Legendary Skill. Deathwatch Team effectiveness increased, Storm Crow Reptuation increased. Lilith will no longer be under Storm Crow command for the remainder of the campaign, small possibility of being killed in action.
[x] Spellbreaking: Magic must defeat magic... More or less--though steel is probably a fair substitute if you have enough of it. That being said, more efficient counterspells probably exist, and you simply need to develop the right psi-patterns to implement them. (11/30 Completed)
And this was with us sending everything in support.
The few remaining holdouts on Forge Pollux have been destroyed, and the Forge is completely under Chaos control now. Its industry has begun to supply the enemy War Effort.
Gravy Train is over. You took a shot at a king and finally missed.
Yeah though, only reason it was as much as 10% was because you sent so many Companies. Which meant that you only lost by two degrees instead of five (Which would have had your attached Hero units needing to make survival rolls due to being attached to a wiped out Company)
[x] Assassination: Morban thePatriarch: Morban the Patriarch has been enticed out into the open in pursuit of the Deathwatch Strike Cruiser that successfully infiltrated Jerichon and razed several of his pet projects. He's not very happy about this--but it does mean that he's outside the umbrella of his allies. Killing him will eliminate the chance of effective biowarfare attacks, and potentially disupt cohesion among remaining Dark Council members. (60% Chance of drawing him to battle, Deathwatch Team Present, First Company and Medea mandatory)
[x] Second Lilith to Deathwatch: Lilith will gain an enormous amount of combat experience, with a moderately good chance of acquiring a Legendary Skill. Deathwatch Team effectiveness increased, Storm Crow Reptuationincreased. Lilith will no longer be under Storm Crow command for theremainder of the campaign, smallpossibility of being killed in action.
[x] Spellbreaking: Magic must defeat magic... More or less--though steel isprobably a fair substitute if you have enough of it. That being said, more efficient counterspells probably exist, and you simply need to develop theright psi-patterns to implement them.(11/30 Completed)
So for Assassination, will the unnamed forces of the companies be involved or is this like the mission on the Thunderhead were only the heroes are fighting?
So for Assassination, will the unnamed forces of the companies be involved or is this like the mission on the Thunderhead were only the heroes are fighting?
Gravy Train is over. You took a shot at a king and finally missed.
Yeah though, only reason it was as much as 10% was because you sent so many Companies. Which meant that you only lost by two degrees instead of five (Which would have had your attached Hero units needing to make survival rolls due to being attached to a wiped out Company)
[x] Assassination: Morban thePatriarch: Morban the Patriarch has been enticed out into the open in pursuit of the Deathwatch Strike Cruiser that successfully infiltrated Jerichon and razed several of his pet projects. He's not very happy about this--but it does mean that he's outside the umbrella of his allies. Killing him will eliminate the chance of effective biowarfare attacks, and potentially disupt cohesion among remaining Dark Council members. (60% Chance of drawing him to battle, Deathwatch Team Present, First Company and Medea mandatory)
[x] Second Lilith to Deathwatch: Lilith will gain an enormous amount of combat experience, with a moderately good chance of acquiring a Legendary Skill. Deathwatch Team effectiveness increased, Storm Crow Reptuationincreased. Lilith will no longer be under Storm Crow command for theremainder of the campaign, smallpossibility of being killed in action.
[x] Spellbreaking: Magic must defeat magic... More or less--though steel isprobably a fair substitute if you have enough of it. That being said, more efficient counterspells probably exist, and you simply need to develop theright psi-patterns to implement them.(11/30 Completed)
[X] Assassination: Morban thePatriarch: Morban the Patriarch has been enticed out into the open in pursuit of the Deathwatch Strike Cruiser that successfully infiltrated Jerichon and razed several of his pet projects. He's not very happy about this--but it does mean that he's outside the umbrella of his allies. Killing him will eliminate the chance of effective biowarfare attacks, and potentially disupt cohesion among remaining Dark Council members. (60% Chance of drawing him to battle, Deathwatch Team Present, First Company and Medea mandatory)
[X] Second Lilith to Deathwatch: Lilith will gain an enormous amount of combat experience, with a moderately good chance of acquiring a Legendary Skill. Deathwatch Team effectiveness increased, Storm Crow Reptuationincreased. Lilith will no longer be under Storm Crow command for theremainder of the campaign, smallpossibility of being killed in action.
[X] Spellbreaking: Magic must defeat magic... More or less--though steel isprobably a fair substitute if you have enough of it. That being said, more efficient counterspells probably exist, and you simply need to develop theright psi-patterns to implement them.(11/30 Completed)
Well, this kind of sucks. If nothing else, the 2nd Company still has some talent remaining that can fill in the Sergeant roles, so not all hope is lost. It will still be the 2nd Company, just reduced.
Dark Council is now aware of the presence of Storm Crows, and will adjust their schemes accordingly.
This is rather more distressing. The obscurity and hidden presence of the Storm Crows is their greatest asset and only real strength. All the smarts in the world don't mean shit if your enemy can simply outfight your strongest on their weakest line.
Greater Daemon Successfully Avoided. Forge Pollux is now Completely Chaos Controlled. As Greater Daemon was not encountered, no new data was acquired on it.
