Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)

[Ohlaak (Alan)]

Nouri looks from Xerxzes to the Lector to the core and then to the Cabal before speaking.

"Any act often repeated soon forms a habit; and habit allowed, steadily gains in strength. At first it may be but as a spider's web, easily broken through, but if not resisted it soon binds us with chains of steel. In your eons of struggle against the Corpse-god, is he not enslaved, if by nothing else his opposition?" he says.

"Change is upon us, Lector - change is upon the Imperium. Yet, all changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.  Cast away the gasping specters of the yester-years. They have won, but in their victory, they cannot bring Mankind hope for they are yet slaves to the Corpse-king, not because of a deluded sense of love, but rather fanatic hatred," he says.

"Cast them away and let's choose a path unburden and unconcerned by their past, but rather we shall forge anew our future. I would not be a slave again, Lector and I would pray this true of you as well."

[DM B]

Maegon will be exploring the upper Hive, examining the tracks of the Grey Knights and searching for blessed or damned items.

Also he'll lead a subtle ritual of his own to influence the dreams of the other characters (if they ever sleep )

There isn't much in the way of blessed or damned items, but there is a bit of mundane gear to be found. Your men could potentially ascend all the way up here and retrieve it, but you're not sure it will be worth the effort. Better to have them focus on what you found on the lower levels - more gear for less effort.

Dawn arrives early high up in the hive spire; the night rains have scoured the skies reasonably clear once again and the rays of the sun are able to pierce the remaining cloud cover with enough intensity to bathe the ruined hive in a multitude of red-tinged colours. The view form the hive-balcony is spectacular.

Taking stock of the situation you conclude that the powerful orbital communicator is the most interesting item. You've managed to access it using your Rosette's clearance codes. You've listened only briefly, but you've picked up multiple signals, some coming from the hive, others from the wastelands - and a few scraps filtering down from orbit. Would that you were better at this or had a savant or vox-servitor at hand.

Other than that you've located a crate of mundane bolter ammo, and some spare parts for power armour sub-systems. There are also some tools laying about that could come in handy for a tech-priest.

[DM B]

Ravn relays a message from his master, Hrothgar: "Magos Azrael. The attack has ended and I suggest we use the opportunity to secure a more advantageous position. We should move into the ruins - all of use - and establish a perimeter there. Thusly placed we will have control of the most advantageous approach to the ship: If we desire we can stage an assault of our own. Or if we do not so desire we have the ability to block the advance of other warbands; they must either fight us in close quarters terrain or cross open ground to attack the ship."

[Dragon Lord]

"Magos Azrael. The attack has ended and I suggest we use the opportunity to secure a more advantageous position. We should move into the ruins - all of us - and establish a perimeter there. Thusly placed we will have control of the most advantageous approach to the ship: If we desire we can stage an assault of our own. Or if we do not so desire we have the ability to block the advance of other warbands; they must either fight us in close quarters terrain or cross open ground to attack the ship."

"I agree, we will move as soon as I've constructed a stretcher to keep the Relictor marine stable and avoid aggravating his injuries, which will not take long."

[DM B]

OOC: Could we try to make posts have a little more body and forward momentum? I know we're all trying to get a feel for the game here, every time you make a post, try to think of how it could make the story flow forward.


Dawn has come. The violence has ended, both inside and outside the ship.

On the inside there is something of a standoff in the enginarium; the warp core/daemon/hallowed ancestral spirits vs. Xerxes, grandson on Fulgrim - with Lexander, Nouri and Gaius undecided in the middle (but you're talking, not shooting ATM). You will likely want to continue talking, questioning both the core and the chaos marine.

On the outside Azrael (backed up by Hrothgar) has moved into the best possible position within the ruined outpost. You will likely want to reinforce your position, put out scouts to watch approaching warbands, look for supplies and/or recruits and so forth. You could also speak to other warbands by vox, try to get into the ship etc. There are lots of options.

Back in the hive Maegon has found quite a bit of supplies. It will take his elites days to bring it all down to a breathable level, but once that has been accomplished he'll have advanced to Resources: 1 (meaning he'll a stockpile of stuff that will last for a while).

[Dragon Lord]

On the outside Azrael (backed up by Hrothgar) has moved into the best possible position within the ruined outpost. You will likely want to reinforce your position, put out scouts to watch approaching warbands, look for supplies and/or recruits and so forth. You could also speak to other warbands by vox, try to get into the ship etc. There are lots of options.

Having occupied the ruins to the front of the ship Azrael and the Nar-Ghosts quickly get to work doing what they do best and fortify all approaches to the ship through the ruins with all many of booby-traps - deadfall pits, tripwire explosives, unstable rock piles, landmines, etc, supported by Hrothgar's host, Corporal Usher and his men, and Roldar and the Relictor scouts.  Before long the ruins are a complete nightmare gauntlet that ought to be enough to try the resolve of even the most determined foe.  As they move through the ruins putting the fortifications in place they scour the area for any resources left behind during the rout of the previous nights assault, as well as any survivors from it, who would either be inducted into the warband or put out of their misery as appropriate.

The injured Relictor Space Marine seemed to be stabilising well under Irena's care, and while they were hardly at leisure the reduction in pace was welcome for the human members of the warbands, allowing them to take turns getting a little rest.

Despite any concerns Azrael may have had Usher seemed to be getting along reasonably with the Relictors, he seemed to be satisfied that Azrael's assertion that the Relictors were probably just as misunderstood as themselves was accurate, as the Relictors certainly gave no impression of being Chaos worshippers.  On the contrary they seemed somewhat closer to the typical view of an Imperial Space Marine than the distinctly wolfish Hrothgar.

Later in the day Azrael spoke to Roldar again, "Have you been able to make contact with your Lector at all?  If we are going to try and make our way onto the ship it would be better to know what awaits us."

He also inquired of Usher whether he had heard anything from the Inquisitor or his men in the hive.  In particular when he had slept for a while earlier (the first time he had in some time, Mechanicus implants are quite useful for keeping one going beyond the limits of normal human endurance, though nowhere near as effective as a Space Marine's symbiotes), he had a somewhat odd dream involving Maegon.  Of course Azrael still has the bug in Usher's vox unit, but this doesn't work when he is asleep.

[OOC: Is that more what you had in mind?]

[Lurk Skywalker]

Outside the voidship

Roldar agrees to the proposal of Mago Kane and both warbands fall in. The Scouts provide their help in ascertaining the perimeter and they take positions to cover the surroundings. They will however report only to Roldar.

Roldar is still unable to communicate with the Lector and in turn he assumes the command of the remaining Relictors and the small retinue they have assembled around them. Within a few hours of having seen his Marine brother settled he approaches Mago Kane again:

"Mago Kane, we wish to mount a renewed and this time well coordinated assault on the vessel, if only to link forces with our brethren who have entered it. I do believe that the Lector and our the other Relictors are still alive and as we all stand, we are your best chance to seize the voidship. I see no disalignment of interest between our respective parties and in any event the Relictors have no feud with your party. I am however interested in understanding your relationship with what appear to be renegade Space Wolves."

[Dragon Lord]

"Mago Kane, we wish to mount a renewed and this time well coordinated assault on the vessel, if only to link forces with our brethren who have entered it. I do believe that the Lector and our the other Relictors are still alive and as we all stand, we are your best chance to seize the voidship. I see no disalignment of interest between our respective parties and in any event the Relictors have no feud with your party. I am however interested in understanding your relationship with what appear to be renegade Space Wolves."

"I agree, I have been studying the vessel to ascertain the best path of entry, I believe I should be able to grant us access through a maintenance hatch on the prow.  My people are only human however and are tired, not to mention that our already low supplies are stretched thin, as I presume are your own.  I feel that we would be best served by spending the rest of the day recuperating and gathering what supplies we can that were no doubt abandoned during the disorganised rout of the attackers last night and then entering the ship at dawn tomorrow.  If you wish to move ahead of us I will get you into the ship and we will follow later, we will need to leave a small group in the rear with your brother until we have secured sufficient of the interior in any case.  I also plan to leave Lukas and his snipers to keep watch in the ruins.

As to Hrothgar our relationship is much the same the same is it is with yourself.  We made contact with Hrothgar's band in the Hive before we made our way across the wastes to the ship on the basis that neither of us would be able to take control of the ship alone.  What his status is I have not enquired, under the circumstances I considered it to be poor etiquette.  I suspect however that he is indeed a 'renegade' if you choose to use those terms.  What led him to that path I do not of course know for certain, however you will no doubt have noticed that even for a Space Wolf there is something uncommonly wolf-like about him.  I suspect that he may be a mutant and became an outcast as a result."

[Lurk Skywalker]

Inside the voidship

The last words of the sorcerer seem to raise the tension within the enginarium. The Lector turns to Nouri and addresses him:

"I fail to understand your point sorcerer, yet the degree of your perdition is unveiled by your words. Your intimate association with the Grey Knights and your implicit support for the delusion proffered by this Fallen Marine corroborate what our Chapter has beholden as true and right since the Inquisition, misguided and perverted from the within, has turned many a once loyal Chapter into a renegade against Mankind. Rules and sacred bonds are what distinguish Man from the degenerated creatures that have disavowed their nature and turned to serve Abaddon and his minions. Our Chapter has therefore initiated its own crusade of which we are but a mere spark on Cadia. Now state your chosen side here and now, and live with the consequences."

Turning to Xerxzes he adds:

"I am offering instead you deliverance and the blessing of our Conclave. Just like the Imperium is certainly doomed, for it is convulsed from within and besieged by those who once gave their blood and souls to defend it, so is the vainglorious quest of Fulrgim and Lucius, the Soulthief. Have you forgotten after these millennia the legendary feats of your banner on Istvaan III? Do you ever crave, Xerxzes, for the purity that must have been inhabiting the hearts of your brothers there and then?"

   

[Lurk Skywalker]

Outside the voidship

Roldar nods at the words of Mago Kane and answers:

"Your approach, Mago Kane, is sound, and we would rather mount a meaningful offensive rather than waste the overall effort."

Casting a critical eye on his own non-Astartes recruits he adds:

"And I believe that some rest is also required for our friends here."

With a few curt words he allows the new recruits to disband and get some rest, after having helped the Mago's men with setting up the camp and gathering whatever supplies can be scanvenged.

Roldar then starts watching Hrothgar and his own retinue from afar. From his backpack, he unfolds a probe, not unlike a black mechanical spider with a strange device on its back. The probe soon enough starts crawling towards the Space Wolf and his heteroclite followers.

[Ohlaak (Alan)]

Inside the voidship

The last words of the sorcerer seem to raise the tension within the enginarium. The Lector turns to Nouri and addresses him:

"I fail to understand your point sorcerer, yet the degree of your perdition is unveiled by your words. Your intimate association with the Grey Knights and your implicit support for the delusion proffered by this Fallen Marine corroborate what our Chapter has beholden as true and right since the Inquisition, misguided and perverted from the within, has turned many a once loyal Chapter into a renegade against Mankind. Rules and sacred bonds are what distinguish Man from the degenerated creatures that have disavowed their nature and turned to serve Abaddon and his minions. Our Chapter has therefore initiated its own crusade of which we are but a mere spark on Cadia. Now state your chosen side here and now, and live with the consequences."
 

"This cabal would be larger were it not for the Grey Knights; they've no less than half of our brethren.  You are not the only, Lector, to feel their sting.  And I daresay you understand far better my point; their are two supposed sides, either you are for Mankind or your against Mankind.  I would say, Lector, that I am for man and that means fighting the corruption within it, defeating the Inquisition, and setting it upon a different path, a better future that isn't spinning perilously close to utter destruction," he says.

"Xerxzes, if we were to join you, with perhaps some of the other men that can be mustered yet on Cadia, how shall be proceed first?"

[DM B]

Xerxzes, to Lexander: "The young ones, always so certain. Yet what do you know of purity and honour? What do you know of Istvaan? What do you know of the Great Betrayal? The answer is nothing. Nothing except lies...ten thousand years of lies, one heaped on top of another."

He steps forward, into the ruddy light of the enginarium. A towering giant in arcane power armour that seem to resemble the colours of the Cadian dawn. His helmet is donned now, but his bolter is still slung. Instead he is armed with twain melee weapons; a vicious-looking chainsword and a jagged obsidian blade that remains matte-black despite the pulsating lights of the warp-core. 

He keeps talking. "Do not let the past or narrow-minded dogma limit your vision Relictor. Yours is a chapter that dared look beyond the veil of lies. That cost you dearly, but to those of your that still live: Do not throw away what you have gained. Lift your gaze from you single-minded quest for chaos-infused artefacts and look the the greater whole. Look up an realize you are free of the yoke - free to realize your dreams, free to seek vengeance against the Grey Knights...if that is what you truly desire."

Addressing all of you in general: "The Great Betrayer, the Corpse-God of Terra, is dead at long last. The extinction of the baleful glare of the Astronomican is proof enough. This is the dawn of a brave new ago and you could be its heroes! Yes, you! You, not me! I'm from a different day and age, my time long past, this is your age."

He fixes Nouri with his visored gaze: "First we must decide: Will there will be battle between us - or not. With these hands I have killed more than a million men, a few dozen more shall no bother me. So which is it? Death or glory?"

Those of you with strong minds or significant psychic shielding are not so affected (i.e. Nouri, Luliana, Gaius, Lexander and the Locum), but for the rank and file Xerxzes worlds seem uncommonly wise and fair. So much so that they cannot see any reason  at all to attack the noble space marine.

The warp core: "You idiots! Why did you listen to him! Kill him, kill him now!!!"

[DM B]

Outside the voidship

Roldar then starts watching Hrothgar and his own retinue from afar. From his backpack, he unfolds a probe, not unlike a black mechanical spider with a strange device on its back. The probe soon enough starts crawling towards the Space Wolf and his heteroclite followers.

They don't do a whole lot. They set up camp as agreed and set about fortifying their sector. Later the other space marine, Ravn, sends two scouts out of camp. Next thing that happens is Hrothgar suddenly spinning around, bolt pistol in hand. A single shot is fired. The spider-probe falls silent.

[Lurk Skywalker]

Aboard the voidship

The Lector answers steadily the Fallen Astartes:
“Dreams? What dreams can be harbored within your depraved breast?  Sensuality and decay, which are the phantasms Fulrgim, Lucius and the others of your Chapter have vainly pursued since Horus and his dark followers collapsed. I look upon you and I see the fate that would befall my brothers and I should we bend the knee. For what you offer us, here and now, is indeed another yoke infused with delirium and insanity.”

Turning to Nouri he adds:

“Sorcerer, I hear you, and today is not the day the Astartes of our Chapter will fight you and your men unless you force us to. Look in front of you and see what the Warp-induced horror that tries to ensnare you and your followers. The Emperor may be gone and the Imperium rotten from the within, but then, join us in building what the Imperium might have been, had it not been infiltrated and perverted from the within by the very lords of Xerxzes.“

As he speaks, the Lectors notices a certain shift in the poise of his men, certain more relaxed grip on a weapon here, a slight nodding there, as if the words of Fulgrim’s child preyed upon their minds.
Turning to Xerxzes he concludes:

“I serve my Conclave and Chapter out of choice, whilst you are chained to a Daemon and his vapors. Death seems preferable than any more of these sweet falsehoods professed here.”

With a swift nod, he ignites his powerful jet-pack and propels himself, Tower of Silence thrust forward and chainsaw sword screaming on Xerxzes. The Locum Lector taps the power of the Orb to shield the other Astartes from the waves emanating from Xerxzes.

[Ohlaak (Alan)]

Everything grows still for Nouri as choice and fate give birth to destiny seconds before the Lector moves. He watches the multitude of scenarios that see the Enginarium awash in the blood of his followers, Gaius disemboweled or Nouri’s head cleanly separate from his shoulders.  No, Nouri would prevent that, though the cost will high and no one shall leave the room untouched.

Just as the Lector moves, Lulianna and completes the spells to draw forth the Grey Knights, as the green warpfire steaks towards Xerxzes and the open Enginarium door seeking the sky beyond. Just as Luliana collapses to the ground from her undertaking, Nouri dives towards the green warpfire thrusting his hand into it.  The pain is indescribable as is the sickening smell of burning flesh.  As the fire wash over his hand, it is transmuted into razor sharp crystal shards that streak towards Xerzxes.