Corbulus gave a last nod to the Night Haunter as the primarch stood and seemingly drifted away from the chapel with his own last words of warning. "Of course. They are well heeded." After the Lord of Night departed, he turned back to the Word Bearer, who held his position but for a while longer, before speaking once more. The Alpha Wolf closed his eyes before responding, "there's nothing to forgive. To deal with Konrad Curze or any of the primarchs is to deal with a force of nature, which can sever one's life at their whim. We may do our best to assist them in their goals, but ultimately they will do whatever they, or in the case of many of our lords, what the dark gods please." "And yet, I agree; the only proper response to the dark gods is worship, and through their blessings reach apotheosis," Corbulus nodded to the Dark Apostle's words. Hearing the instructions, he retained the information before giving one last word to Quor Gallek. "Very well then, I shall go and entreat the dark gods with proper sacrifices. I only hope that I have not fallen too far from their favor and sight." Or from one that another would claim me, the Alpha Wolf thought cautiously, even as he considered the position between himself and the Word Bearer now. He lacked the blessings of the dark gods at the moment, and thus would humble himself. Yet, his respect for the Son of Lorgar only went so far; should the Word Bearer presume himself above the Wolves of Horus, there would come a reckoning. All of this Corbulus kept to himself though, as he gave a parting nod to the Word Bearer himself, before departing from the chapel, putting on his helmet and heading in the direction of the shrines of the Wolves of Horus. Over the course of the last few weeks, more and more denizens of the ship, from serfs to beastmen, had found their way to the unholy places. He had given the order that all may freely worship the primordial truth there, so long as relative order between the rooms held up. Walking a while forward, he came to the hallway, where a simple but already somewhat decorated eight pointed star served as the focal point of chaos undivided, equal distance from all four doorways. While one may be granted much quicker rewards by serving one of the four exclusively, in the Alpha Wolf's mind, only the path of undivided offered the greatest rewards and options to those that dare tread that path. The undivided mortal troopers of the Lupercal Army stood in the hallway by each door to the four individual shrines as well as patrolled up and down the sector. Armed with little more than stub guns and maybe some rusty knives, the soldiers nonetheless did their best to take pride in their position within the warband's auxiliary. All had their clothes repainted in cruel uniform gold and black to mimic their astartes masters, and even the few officers did their best to instill some form of discipline into what were mostly ex-convicts, serfs and prisoners from the asteroid base attempting to be soldiers, as seen through their clumsy salutes to Corbulus as he strode past them towards his destination. The influences of the shrines had seemed to strengthen as well, as each radiated out some sort of sound. Those closest to the door to the Blood God's shrine could hear the battle cries from within even when it remained closed, and similarly, the Prince of Pleasure's domain emanated screams of pain and pleasure, indifferentiable from one another. Ceaseless whispers hummed in one's ear by the door to the Changer of Ways' shrine, and groans and deep, low laughter came from the Lord of Decay's door. Just as Corbulus paused at the eight pointed star in the middle, a sudden bang caught his attention. The door to the shrine of Slaanesh slammed open, and a rather heavily built mortal came out, dragging a nude, feminine looking man behind him by his hair. Various screams followed them, but the mortal, cut in various places, continued forward, directly to the Khorne Shrine's direction. As he reached the middle of the hallway, a mob of cultists, from their various state of undress obviously Slaaneshi entered the hallway from the room behind them, wicked looking knives in hand. At the same time, the door to the Blood God's domain smacked open, and a rush of Khornates poured out, all bloodied, all with weapons in hand. The two sides collided slightly past the middle, just as the original man began to close the distance with his destination. Knives came up and stabbed down, slicing, cutting and generally inflicting pain upon the Khornates. Everything from improvised metal knuckles to hand axes smashed into the bodies of the Slaaneshi, drawing screams of agony and ecstasy from the pleasure cultists. Their screams mixed with the battle cries of the Khornates, and blood flooded readily from the dead bodies from both sides. The original man with his prisoner proved impressive, using the body of his captive almost as a weapon and swinging the long haired man back and forth, smashing aside his opposition and finally making his way through the red doorway. Just as quickly as the fight started, it concluded. The Khornates retreated, and when the Slaaneshi attempted pursuit, the undivided guards beat them back with their own weapons. Behind Corbulus, he could hear the angry demands of one of the Lupercal Army officers inquiring on how the original Khornate got into the Slaaneshi Shrine in the first place. The head of the Wolves of Horus had given clear instructions: bloodshed was permitted in the hallway, but no invasion of other shrines would be tolerated by any sides. Amused, the Alpha Wolf headed towards the Shrine of Khorne, passing various members of the Nurglite cult, who had watched the confrontation from afar and now swarmed out to grabbed whatever bodies they could get their hands on to please the Lord of Decay with their usage. Stepping into the room of brass and blood, Corbulus managed to arrive in time to see the thickly built mortal dragged the long haired man to the blood fountain in the middle of the room, where he dedicated the death of the Slaaneshi cultist to the blood god. Then, taking an axe, he severed his captive's head clean off of his shoulder, before fishing the dome out of the fountain itself. Several fellow worshippers of Khorne stepped across the channels of blood leading to and from the fountain, to take the body and impale them on one of the many spikes across the room, while the burly fellow set the skull upon the wall, where a growing collection of them had begun to stack upon one another. None of the impale bodies had a head: causing pain and anguish belonged to the hated Slaaneshi and her cults, only blood and battle glorified Khorne here. As though blessed and accepted by the blood god, an inexplicable stream of blood ran over the skulls, dripping from one to another and making it looked as though they each wept tears of crimson. Bellowing in victory to his fellow cultists, the man didn't notice Corbulus walk up until the astartes was upon him. Turning and pausing to look into the visor of a demi-god. The Alpha Wolf will admit the impressive posture of the mortal: he stood nearly as tall as he was in power armor, though weighing considerably less, and lacked his augmented strength. "Remarkable, you have quite the zeal for Khorne." The man frowned, but nodded, unsure of where this conversation headed. "Thank you m'lord." Corbulus walked to the fighting pit on the far end of the room from the doorway, before taking off his bolt pistol and power axe and holding them out. Several undivided troopers who had fallen in line behind him rushed forward, taking the prized weapons and holding them to the side. With that, the Alpha Wolf stepped into the pit. "I require a suitable sacrifice for the Blood God, you shall do. Enter the pit," Corbulus ordered, and the man, as big as he was, hesitated. He knew that the astartes outmatched him greatly even unarmed, though to refuse also meant death. Would there be any honor to be led to the slaughter like sheep? Seeing his misgivings, the Alpha Wolf snapped his finger, causing one of the undivided troopers to run out of the shrine, before speaking again. "Ah yes, it would not be a proper sacrifice if you did not have a fair chance of killing me as well. As I have my armor on, this must be rectified in some way. I hope you do not mind if I keep my armor on; taking it off would require too much time and frankly, I would rather not keep the blood god waiting. Would this do instead?" The undivided trooper returned with another two fellow, all three holding the chainaxe that Corbulus had used since Schindlegeist aloft. "The axe is more than suitable for slicing through power armor. I know because I used it to kill its previous owner. It's even been dedicated to Khorne," Corbulus gestured to the Khornate symbol painted in red on the chain weapon. "You kill me, you may keep the weapon. In fact, I'll let you have a plasma pistol in my possession as well. Consider it additional motivation." He nodded the remaining troopers, who saluted to indicate their understanding of the implict order. Now much more comfortable, the man grinned before picking up the chainaxe with both hands, lifting it with the ease that an astartes have with one. "Very well m'lord, I shall place your skull at the place of honor in this shrine." Corbulus smiled behind his helmet, before tightening his fingers into fists and loosening them again. "You'll have to take it first, boy." With that, the fighting pit cleared, and a small crowd quickly gathered around the arena. The chain axe revved in the giant man's hands a few times as the combatants circled one another, before the mortal charged in, weapon swinging. "Blood for the blood-" An armored fist connected with his face, killing his momentum and stopping the attack entirely. Corbulus had carefully held back the first punch so as to not blemish the skull, and while the man's face swelled, his cheekbones remained intact and together. The mortal, giving up any battle cry, charged forward again, swinging the chain weapon low as to take out the astartes' legs. To the Alpha Wolf, however, he might as well moved underwater. Stepping back and lifting his forward leg over the sweep, he sent another jab that dislocated the shoulder of the man, before using his foot to more so pushing the man away, sending him rolling backward in the arena. The crowd, which had roared with excitement before, began to jeer, seeing how one sided the fight still was even after Corbulus had armed his opponent and disarmed himself. Snapping joint back into place, the mortal went for a high slice then, swinging the chain axe at shoulder level of Corbulus, aiming to take the astarte's head off with a single blow. His target ducked under quickly before sending a combination of punches into the torso of the man, cracking and breaking ribs. Winded, the mortal took a few steps back before an actual kick collided with the front of his chest this time, sending him flying, the chain axe slipping out of his hand and burying itself into the floor nearby. Tired of the game, the Alpha Wolf stepped forward as the man attempted to scurry back away from him. Seeing the fear in the mortal's eyes, the astartes felt disappointment: perhaps this one would not be an ideal sacrifice after all. However the man did refrain from begging for his life, which made the sacrifice at least somewhat worthwide. Placing a hand on top of the man's head, Corbulus put the other onto his shoulder and gave the head a quick twist, before ripping the skull straight off the shoulder and spine of the body. A torrent of blood shot out, pouring over his armor and his prize. The crowd roared with approval, but the Alpha Wolf paid them no heed. He looked to the sky, as though speaking to someone beyond the ceiling of the shrine even as the cultists came to retrieve the body for another spike in the room. Hand holding the head, Corbulus spoke, "Blood for your lake, Lord Khorne! Skull for your skull throne! I ask that you overlook this pitiable opponent and bless this offering to you now!" The crowd faded from his awareness, as he focused upon communing with the Lord of War. "These mortals see me as a champion elevated above them, but you know I am but an astartes amongst many, and yet lack the strength to deliver to you proper bloodshed that would bring glory to your name! I ask now only that you would strengthen my arms, and shield me from the witch blood that would dishonor proper combat by usurping the power of the gods, only to arrogantly call their own!" "For the power to bring you more skulls, to shed more blood, to have the witch blood cast their foul powers upon me and watch the fear consume them as you make their stolen powers into nothing, I am prepared to offer what you might demand of me! I know better than to make claims of my own offering, as though I have anything to give you that you lack the strength to take yourself! Let other arrogant fools make such statements, and I shall present whatever I have now and await your command. I ask that you only refrain from ordering this lowly servant from the service of a failure and a pretender by the name of Abaddon. Though you have granted him favor, his failure over the millennia have been evident and I wish not to wish to include myself upon any of his future failures, for fear that such weakness in him would be transferred to me!"
The Priestess' Quarters Spoiler Xaviera turned her chair and sat down in it again, facing Valu. She regarded the changeling thoughtfully while he regaled her with his musings on the Dark Gods. The priestess' look grew pensive, and her eyes wandered off the changeling. They homed in on him again and she seemed to return to the present, seeing him again. She sat well back into her chair and turned her eyes to the ceiling, before lowering them on Valu once more. "Your view of the Dark Gods is simple and soulless, but not wrong. Chaos is a simple thing, Valu; it is the truth. The truth is what was revealed to Lorgar Aurelian when he wrote his great tome, the Book of Lorgar. To understand the Dark Gods without the Word, if we'll humor the idea that a mortal could comprehend beings of such absolute and vast power, one must understand the nature of Chaos itself; that is a hopeless task. The Word gives us insight beyond insight through the meditations of Lorgar, and allows us to glimpse into a truth beyond our mortal minds. I suggest before you make any such choice of whom you will serve, I advise that you deliberate over these simple truths: Khorne's path is clear, but hard, Nurgle's path is one of gratitude, not sorrow, Slaanesh demands greatness, not sloth, and Tzeentch favors those who make their own luck, and rewards them with his power and his hatred." The Navigator's Quarters Spoiler "I respect your loyalty to the Admiral, Lady Delilah. It takes a great deal of courage to follow your master into the dark, where you might lose your way... but I believe you are a resilient woman, moreso than you give yourself credit for. And I believe you will find your path and your aim, in time. Choices and opportunities await you, my lady. Some more pleasant than others," she added with a small smile, which only grew when the Navigator started to explain her experiences. "Who does not serve, my lady? You were born into a Navigator House. Your path was chosen for you, as well. I was not forced into service, but there was nothing greater for me to pursue, anything else would be a waste of my gifts, surely. I did not choose this; I was chosen. My gifts made me more than another slave. I received a calling, much like yourself, and I heeded it. My power comes from the Dark Gods; this is simple truth. Chaos presented me with greater challenges, but also greater opportunities, than my base birth would have afforded me. I believe you have the same... tenacity to make your own luck now, in this position you find yourself. I would be your friend, if you would have me. It does not have to be hard, to find your new place."
"....Who the hell is Phocron?!" Kombuse asked back at the torrent of questions leveled at him, but still holding his ground as the giant terminator clad marine stood over him with the rather menacing looking hammer in his hands. He didn't know anyone named Phocron, or snakes for that matter, and was bewildered as to why he was upset that the vehicles were fixed and working. "The only help I have here are these guys." He said, waving at the servitors around them who were carrying out their last orders. "Why are you so damn mad? You said I should start fixing it all and I did, I said I was going to help and I am." Kombuse proclaimed, reminding him what he said earlier, getting a bit angry himself now. He points to the skull rune of Khorne on his arm as he continued. "What, you think I follow the fucking bird or something with this on me. Do tricks and lies? No, I do what I said I'll do. Do you want proof? Just watch me fix something else then." Kombuse grumbled loudly before looking for the biggest, most busted up vehicle in the armory to fix and having the servitors follow him, all the while still grumbling things such as 'just wanted to fix stuff', 'daemon engines' and 'who helped you with this?!' in a mocking tone on the last one as he headed towards the superheavy vehicle OOC: I don't know what's in the armory, so I'm him go towards what's the biggest or busted up thing in the armory.
<Audition for Satharn's serfs> @Jorimel Satharn was quite correct in his assessment of the situation; these people sitting around the crew chambers were anything but frightened. Perhaps a little bit wary but scared? Not at all. If anything, they seemed to be happy. Happy that they finally dropped the yokes of the Imperium and were given freedom to (almost) do whatever they wanted with their lives here aboard this ancient vessel. True, the Dark Apostle was expedient in his conversion of the masses and half of the prisoners and supporting crew became followers of Chaos, funneled into various factions and serving different Gods, their fate was pretty much sealed. However besides them there were still lots of those mortals who were less on the "Chaos side" and were more on the likes of the renegades. Simple people, trying to survive and make due what was right by them, filled most of these chambers now, meaning that there was no shortage of possible recruits. Six in total answered Satharn's call but since the Night Lord stated he needed only three, it would be up to him to chose the right candidates. Two knew how to sew, both an elderly male and female. Female served aboard Admiral Augustine's ship as crew supervisor, having to check if the acquired uniforms of the Navy personnel were in appropriate order was one of her many assignments so she knew a thing or two about sewing (among other things). Male however told that he worked as a sew master in a Hive city on one of the planets in the outlying part of the Segmentum and that he had plenty of experience in making civilian clothing. Next two candidates were also male and female, both ex-Guards. Female had dark skin and spoke with a strange accent, telling Satharn that she used to fight for the Emperor however during one of the invasions against the Greenskins that went horribly wrong, her regiment was all but destroyed and she saw first-hand how uncaring the Imperium can be when they didn't give a damn about all the lives lost, they just asked for more. She and a handful of survivors fled the system and traveled as hired guns, working on the frontier for most of the remaining time. Male on the other hand was one of those silent and broody types, he didn't say much except that he used to be a Commissar and that he fought in the latest Black Crusade. Final two were both males, however their age varied a lot. First was in his late seventies, from what he told Satharn he used to be an armorsmith in service of now long dead Rogue Trader, who after the death of his master he settled on one of the fresh colonized worlds where he worked as a tech savant of sorts before he was arrested for dabbling into forbidden technologies and brought to this prison. Last human was a boy in his late teens, he had no particular experience but he told the Night Lord that he read many Imperial pamphlets and watched dozens of holo-vids about Space Marines and that he dreamed to become one of them someday, so working for one of the demigods sounded like the next logical step in his life. OOC Feel free to pick the three servants you like the most You can also name them if you wish etc <Bridge action> @Taec @DeranVendar @BuriasDempsey @Vulpas @Vlayden Corrupted Shipmaster was perhaps a difficult foe for a small party to overcome, but with four marines and two skilled mortals a stationary target, no matter how much tentacles it possessed, was bound to drop dead eventually. Shipmaster's doom started with Ausarius focusing his power into a psychic blast that not only burned the limb which tried to grip him, but also made his mind and body more resilient to foreign effects of forcing him to lose control. Thousand Son felt a lot more powerful after the successful attack and he easily annihilated couple of more tentacles, opening way for both Kombuse and Fera to push in. Two mortals attacked together and reached the place where Orghast was dealing with the set of limbs coming out of the floor, close to the Shipmaster himself. Using a mix of their melee and ranged weapons, the trio cut, sliced and diced through the corrupted flesh and suddenly, the way was open for them to kill the creature. Erelak was close by as well, the Raptor pulling out his pistol and sending additional bolts into the fallen Night Lord. But he wasn't the only one firing; Viator got back up on his feet, the look of pure murder on his face as he pulled out his own gilded pistol and sent a salvo of explosive shells into the monster, helping the Black Legionary with shots of his own. Flesh exploded, Shipmaster screamed and blood flew through the Bridge. "No...You will not win, the Emperor is a fraud...Glory to the Warmaster..." it squeaked as bolt, blade and warp lighting ripped him apart. Once the central nervous system died so did every outstretched limb fell flat on the ground, motionless and finally dead. "Pact Trooper, get your flamer and clear the Bridge. Sister can help you with that," Viator said, no, he ordered as there was no more pleasantries in his voice, only raw hatred and malice. "Ausarius, I'm sure it is within your power to cleanse the place of any residual taint? Good, I want the place cleared and made ready to receive the Night Haunter. It is only proper for the Dark King to take upon his throne once again," Scion of Slaanesh finished and nodded towards the back of the chamber where set a giant chair made of what looked like bleached bone. Interestingly enough, while the entire place was covered in corrupted flesh this throne of bones was left completely undisturbed, as if the fallen Shipmaster even in his damnation was afraid that Curze might return and wasn't about to touch his chair... OOC @Vlayden Ausarius has "unlocked" his new spell <Shrines; Wolves of Horus territory> @WanderingJester Khorne had no reply in store for Corbulus, but then again the Blood God was never much of a talkative person. As the blood flowed from the offering and the others servants cheering, the Alpha Wolf felt in his gut the pensive stare of something across the veil and since nothing attacked him, that would mean only good thing. However while the mood at the Khorne's shrine was uplifting, Corbulus soon found out that it wasn't the case on the rest of the shrines and not because he was lacking followers or they lacked enthusiasm. They have been raided! And by no less then a mob of beastmen. It turned out that while Corbulus was on the mission and busy in the aftermath of it with needed recovery and time spent in sermons, a group of beastmen "attacked" the shrines. They didn't go out of their way to kill the worshipers that found themselves there nor did they desecrated the actual shrines, the creatures were obviously too fearful of the Dark Fathers to do such a thing. However what they did was steal most of the valuables from there - trinkets, ritualistic daggers, that sort of stuff were basically looted. Silken sheets and silver items from the Shrine of Slaanesh, laboratory utensils and tools from Shrine of Nurgle and couple of statues of the Architect of Fate himself from his own shrine. Those were the items that were lifted and while they weren't much really, the beastmen probably taking them in order to strengthen their own herdstone and make it better, the deed was done and it was up to Corbulus to figure out what to do next.
The Prosperan gave little more than a nod as he was told to cleanse the psychic taint, bringing himself to the throne and - taking his spear back up and holding it in front of him - set to doing that. A mournful aura seemed to emanate from him with this as his pauldrons were held notably lower, his head bowing a bit more and the silent tone that he had; almost as though he felt sorry for the previous shipmaster. All the same, Ausarius kept quiet; his mind focusing on slowly cleansing each bit of the presence of this man until it was fully done, even 'cleaning' over again and again. If anything, by the time he was done it would feel 'proper'. Some place that any non-psyker could feel comfortable standing in and even fellow psykers such as he would feel nothing but the most distant of echoes, a sign that had to be focused upon to even notice. Once he was done, a slow and heavy sigh came through his helm as he bumped it against his weapon, another moment of mourning coming through him; not only for the man he'd killed, so disillusioned by time and reality that his madness had him imagining everything, but the memory of his previous comrades that are now naught but dust. Should that be all, he'd then slowly make his way to seeing about a chat. If he could, he'd see to having a visit with the Admiral or Navigator; should they not be available? Well... Some time alone in his own room shall do, to meditate.
Valu - Intermission; Follow-Up visit with a Patient [ @Kalle ] Spoiler "Hmmm...." Valu pondered on the revelation offered by the fellow mortal. "It is not the first time I'm told I see them too simple... But... You see... I do not know of this Lorgar - except by name... Nor do I know of his 'Word' as you call it... I have seen the truth of Chaos. The power behind it. I have gazed upon the gods, or rather they have gazed unto me. With discarding, disappointed eyes. They know I'm nothing. I know, I'm nothing to them. That is the truth I currently know." He looked down onto the ground, taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes. "I came to find guidance, yet it seems no matter how much I make my mind up in a certain direction, everything shows me that I'm wrong... I seek to belong somewhere... I joined the Black Crusade of Abaddon to fight the Imperium. They annihilated my homeworld. My family. My friends. And they have done nothing wrong. As you can tell we were not worshippers of chaos. They simply hated who we were, who we are..." He looked up at Xaviera, to show the honesty in his words, the burning zeal in his fire against anyone who belongs to the rule of the so-called God-Emperor. "I wish revenge nothing more... But I know, I'm too insignificant and never will be anybody of statue to fell the Imperium. Instead... I believe, it is my role to help others to greatness. All my life I assisted greater people than myself. Be it a Pirate Captain, an Archon or a Champion of Khorne... My life is in servitude. It is just... Who can I trust to respect me as a proper servant, as an assistant to their power. And more importantly. Will I be even of any help? Or just stand in others ways? I made no difference for anyone on Schindelgheist. I made no impact on Abaddon's failure or success. And even now, I do nothing but disappoint my current life debtor - Satharn Tem." Tears started to build up in his eyes. Not out of sorrow. But anger, frustration and that of a helpless child that came crawling to his mother, wishing she knew something or had something to soothe him - give him direction. Valu - Intermission; Becoming an Eladrith Ynneas After following Loki and his Xenos friends onto his vessel they had escaped the madness that annihilated the entirety of the Pirate dynasty that had existed. As far as they were concerned, there was no survivor. They retreated deep into what Valu quickly learned was the Webway. However, the greatest revelation to him is that Loki in fact, like himself, was no human - but an alien being. Apparently his true name was 'Razauil' and he was the Archon of this group. Valu revealed his true form to him as well, as a sign of trust. To his misfortune - the Archon was very interested in his shapeshift ability. During a stay at a dark eldar hub, he came back with a fellow Dark Eldar woman which was beyond beauty, but sadly was really not interested in a lower bastard archon like Razauil. So, he had Valu turn into her. And to his delight it worked. And as long as the shapeshifter would keep his part of the deal, he would be educated in the way of his Kabal, truly become one of them. And so he was taught in the language of Eldar. Got several full body examinations by the local haemonculus in pursue of the shapeshifter genes and the potential to recreate it. Along with that, he also - forced in order to keep his act up - to suck the one or other soul out of victims they caught during raids. The memories of those events, especially the nights he lived as a Wych became more and more clear, as if blowing away a cloud of confusion. Putting missing pieces together in the jigsaw puzzle his mind was. But finally the encounter with the dark gods it all started to fade. The things his mind tried to protect him from becoming actually something he wished to pursue. The Lacrymole opened his human eyes wide as he woke up from the trance he found himself in. In fact he woke up with a cold sweat. Apparently he had passed out as Comms Officer Lopez somewhere in the mess. But when he looked around, he was all alone. And yet, there was something. No... Someone. Was it the Night Haunter himself? Preying on his next victim? Or was it Satharn who had found out that Valu was indeed a shapeshifter? Or Phocron, perhaps one of his agents... He shuddered and got up, leaving the mess panting and with haste, just making for his bunk that he shared with other officers. Valu - Intermission; Curse of the Sapphire Serpent One of those days in the warp the memories of the day he became and spent as a blue snake came to mind, as he was tending to some people in the med-bay. They had been injured from some fight with Beastmen and, or over the dominance of their shrines belonging to a group on the ship called 'Wolves of Horus' or something like that. He didn't really listen to the people as he mended to them. It was a cold winter day as the Wych was wandering through the tundra. Only wearing a wolf coat over her rather revealing armor. She was cut off from Razauil and the rest of the group on their quest to find some ancient Eldar who bore secrets regards Chaos, or rather - the remnants of their spirits. It was here, on the original world of Mymeara. It was within the Eye of Terror, but over the last thousand years it became colder and colder until no sentient being wanted to live here but wild, deadly animals. Ice dragons are rumored to live here, living ice crystals known as elementals or golems, giant mutated wolves and so many more beasts that probably nobody survived to tell a tale about. The group got separated when an avalanche came down as they climbed up a mountain to the spire of the old wise ones who gave the order to build a craftworld for those who were not yet fallen into depravity. With a heavy sigh she wandered through an ice forest, every breath she took emanating an icy cloud. She kept walking and walking. Looking for shelter, food, perhaps even a frozen lake which might hint at water. It felt like marching for hours, but who really knew with a world that had fallen into a cycle of 66 hours of day and night at a time. Although the blue star in the distant illuminated the world of old Mymearea, there was no warmth. The Dark Eldar at last was at her personal limits, dropping to the floor, sweat freezing on her forehead and the cold inviting her to an eternal sleep. In the moment she was finally willing to give up, a snake appeared in front of her. "You bear the skin of the fallen. Yet, I see a heart of something else." The snake said, clearly Valu was hallucinating and just laughed at the creature - because he knew he has begun to get mad, or already was dead. "I feel the mind of a male, yet I see the body of a female. Yet, it is not a psychic trick you play. Nor a holo-field. Perhaps you are more than I can imagine?" The snake asked, having a monologue as it coiled up, eyeing the Wych with curiosity. "I'm a shapeshifter. All I need is a bit DNA, and I can become any living creature I want to be." The Wych responded, figuring if he might die, he might as well die while speaking the truth to the imagination his mind fabricated. The serpents eyes glowed with interest. And quickly it bit itself near the end of the tail where it wouldn't really hurt. It hissed and offered the bleeding tail to the lips of the Wych. Valu in thirst and hunger simply sank his teeth into the creature, sucking the blood out and drinking it as much as he could before the serpent recoiled. "Enough already, you are going to suck me dry!" It complained. But not before long, Valu transformed into the identical snake before him. Survival instinct demanding the Lacrmyole to assume the form that consumed the least energy and had better chances of survival in this climate. And in fact, he felt quite... At home. The freezing cold became a comfortable temperature. And the other snake slithered off. Immediately the transformed Valu followed, even though it was quite awkward to maneuver without legs. The serpent disappeared in a little hole under a rock, and Valu jumped after him. Which he immediately did regret as it was a free-fall into a crystal cavern. Too tired to even scream he just kept on dropping until eventually landing on a giant green leaf of which he simply bounced off from and then was surrounded by other blue serpents. There was a running river, growing fruits on top of trees and everything about this place just looked mystical. For an unknown amount of time, but surely at least a year he would spend his time among these friendly, talking snakes. He would learn over time that they all possess basic psychic capabilities which they believe was somehow handed down either through the ancestors of this world, which from Valu, they learned were Eldar. Or through the influence of the warp on this world. It didn't matter what the truth was, as they simply lived down here day after day and hiding in the hole during the long nights as predators would emerge that would easily devour them or kill for sport to gain those beautiful blue scales. Valu - Intermission; Call to the 12th Black Crusade During the winter solstice, where a night would not just last 66 hours, but a whole 88, Valu heard boots and the familiar language of low gothic. While the rest of his serpent family was asleep he slithered off to the surface to see what was happening. Apparently two forces of humans were fighting here for reason unknown to him. One side was dressed in red and brass. The other in black and white. There were corpses in the hundreds - perhaps thousands. The red ones were definitely winning from Valu's point of view, atop a tree. The purple ones fleeing to some valkyries and other transport-capable aircrafts as the others stormed after them. "Blood for the Blood God! Death to the false Emperor! Annihilation to the Imperium and it's lapdogs!" A giant of a man roared at the front armed with two massive chainswords, eviscerating warriors of the other side. And then it was like something clicked in his mind. The Imperium... How did he forget? Between the time with Razauil and and the serpents he almost had completely forgotten about what was done to him and his home. The Imperium simply came, obliterated his homeworld and moved on as if nothing ever happened! "Milord!" Some servant-looking human came running to the man with the two chainswords just after the enemy had completely retreated. "We just received word from Abaddon the Despoiler. He is rallying every force willing to unite under the Black Legion to make another push for Cadia and then Terra!" Valu cared little who this Abaddon was. But someone capable of making claims to attack Terra itself? A chance to finally retaliate against the homeworld of the Imperium? This was fate for Valu to be here at this time, at this very location. So without much thought he bit one of the dead red guys in the neck who wore some ballistic sort of mask to protect himself from the cold probably and transformed into him - ever since wandering with the warband. This time, the Lacrymole awoke with that revelation in his own bed in his personal quarters. He just smiled brightly, having finally realized the truth and chain of events that led up to now. Perhaps he was too minuscule to be noticed by the dark gods. Yet, they have led him through his life. From the moment his childhood eyes landed on a daemon.
Corbulus didn't need to hear a single word from the blood god: the feeling of intense scrutiny that bore into the back of his head spoke volumes about whether or not he had Lord Khorne's attention. The fact that a servant of the Lord of Skulls hadn't burst through reality to rent his own head off of his shoulders spoke even more of the situation. The Alpha Wolf had been granted an audience with Lord Khorne, and he had judged him worthy of even a moment's attention, more so than so many others had gained. Once his focus came back to real space and back to the task at hand, he pulled out a combat knife and began stripping the flesh from the skull, all the while walking back out of the pit. Corbulus paid no heed to the small cheering crowd of Khornates as he placed the stripped skull on a spot on the wall, allowing the other cultists to clean it up later. Blood running down the skull above it came and began dripping onto the freshly dedicated prize, and he turned to retrieve his weapon, grabbing the power axe just as the troopers retrieved the fallen chainaxe from the pit and take it back to their private armoury. Just as he wondered which shrine to visit next, the officer in charge burst into the shrine, a hand holding his bloodied side and followed by a limping junior officer. "My lord Corbulus! We've been attacked!" He shouted before dropping to his knees in front of the astartes, the junior officer doing the same after a hesitated look at the Khornate cultists, some of whom hissed and jeered at them. Corbulus said nothing as he stared down at the officer, though his silence ushered more words from the officer, clearly in distressed. "Beastmen. A pack of them. They waited until we were changing shifts for the patrols, and the blindsided us. We fought as hard as we can, but they burst into the Shrines of Great Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slaanesh, before stealing some artifacts and fled before our reinforcements could get here. My lord, I beg you. Let me gather up men and we-" The officer's words died in their throats as a hand from the Alpha Wolf raised, and he replied in a deadpan voice. "So, what you're saying is: you've failed in your assignment to safeguard the sanctity of the dark gods' domain and their worshippers, and, in failing, crawl here to beg me to let you rectify your mistake?" The officer gulped. "N-no m'lord. I-" The sentence dropped as quickly as his head did off of its shoulder, the combat knife in Corbulus' hand flashing too quickly for most of the mortal to see. As the corpse hit the floor, the Khornates cheered, most didn't understand what had happened but delighting in the bloodshed nonetheless. After the undivided troopers stripped the body of its weapons and valuables, the cultist swarmed it to dedicate the body to Khorne as well, carrying it away to the nearest empty spike and spot on the wall. Turning to the junior officer, a boy barely out of his teens, the Alpha Wolf addressed the terrified looking man. "When I give an order, I expect it to be carried out by my soldiers or for them to die trying. You are hereby promoted as his replacement. Learn from your predecessor's mistake." The boy nodded so quickly only by the grace of the primordial truth did his head stayed on his own shoulders, before getting up and stuttering as he spoke to the astartes, unable to look directly at Corbulus. "Y-yes M'lord. Th-thank you. Your ord-ders?" If the stutter bothered Corbulus, he didn't show it. "Send word to gather the forces, have Captain Robb and his men join us. Double the patrols and guards here and in our territories. Inform the entire army of your predecessor's fate, and let them know that should something like this happen again, I shall personally execute every other man who doesn't die fighting myself." The young officer nodded frantically once more, before saluting so fast he hit his own head, and running out of Khornate shrine as though a juggernaut threatened to devour him. Walking out, the Alpha Wolf opened a private vox channel to Nero, "get your wargear and meet me now." His tone of voice left no doubt as to the purpose of their trip, and he shut the channel even as he stepped past the nursing and unconscious bodies of the undivided troopers outside in the hallway. As Corbulus went, more and more of the Lupercal Army joined him. Even as he left the Shrine of Khorne, several of the Khornate, perhaps inspired by his performance in the fighting pits, or perhaps just sensing an opportunity for a fight from his body language, quickly picked up whatever was accessible to them and followed. The most disciplined and well-equipped soldiers fell in line behind him, and though light years away from the elite regiments of Cadia or Krieg, still carried themselves well for their situation, marching in formation and with their officers at their head. To their side, though a little bit of a distance away marched the column of disease soldiers. Captain Robb, holding the rotting looking chainsword taken from one Lieutenant from the asteroid command center and properly "touched," marched at their head. The Nurgle blessed man now dressed in a matter suited for an officer of the Lupercal army, the imperial fatigue traded for a stained yellow battle dressed uniform with flak armor on, a gas mask over his face where the funnel directly entered his infected torso and a gold and black band wrapped around his biceps. Corbulus had promised the sidearm of the deceased lieutenant to the Captain as well, should he proved himself worthy today. The worshipper of Nurgle's jolly reply indicated that he was only bound by his master to retrieve the lost items from the shrine, as well as gather more bodies for the plague Lord. Nodding, the Alpha Wolf continued forward, even as Nero came around another hallway with his bolter out, and fell in line beside him, flanking his other side away from Captain Robb, and walking warily away from the disease soldiers. The group behind him now a formidable looking force, at least numbers wise, and he pulled his weapons out, the jagged edges of the power axe glowing with warp energy, the bolt pistol loaded in his bionic hand. Stepping through one last doorway, he entered the beastman's feast hall once more and looked around. As the troops gathered in their respective formations behind him, along with the Khornates just hanging about at the front, looking eager but not walking further than Corbulus, all eyes fell upon the leader of the force. He scanned the room, looking at each of the beastmen actually in the room. Most looked startled, reaching for weapons at hand, even though none of the newcomers' own had been levelled at them. The minotaurs continued to languish in their cages, looking more alert than before at the crowd that just entered. The Alpha Wolf, not seeing the beastman, merely addressed the room as a whole with an even voice and an even simpler message. "I have business with your chieftain, where might I find him?" @Grall_Stonefist
Allmost as if answering Corbulusses call, a tank started rolling in from one of the larger entrances in to the beastmens makeshift campsite, a tank easily recognisable to Corbulus as a predator with a Magna melta for a main gun, the tank easily visible as it was taller than all but caged minotaurs, though Corbulus would also see that not all minotaurs where caged anymore, aperantly the introduction of human serfs had sated the worst of some of their blood greed. Gorzkha rode at the top of the tank, having climbed out of the tank and untop of it, and even though a possibly hostile force had just entered the herds attention mainly shifted to Gorzkhas return as he brayed in victory of his treasure hunt, his evicerator helt above his head, and a plaguebearers head impaled on his horn. A cacophony of brays and bestial roars followed, but then Gorzkha saw the intruders who had come in force, Gorzkha jumped Down from the corbula of the tank as the herd split to allow him free passage towards in intruders, and with the wave of a hand a minotaur with a two handed axe allmost the size of the warchief himself followers close behind. As he arived before the intruders and the herd closed in it was easy to see that it was a tighter close, those beastmen of weak spirit obviusly reassured by the presence of their chiefstan, most of them raised whatever weapons they had, not being much good at diplomacy or the concept of honour. Gorzkha looked directly at Corbulus, letting his evicerstor rest upon his shoulder, "why you come here like this? You wish death? My herd hungers for manflesh" Gorzkha said, though his posture and voice spoke of an endless bestial confidence, he was weary of Corbulus mob, some of them might be as eager and honourless as the lesser gors, and he was still not bullet proof. @WanderingJester
<Navigator's quarters> @Kalle "Thank you for your...words Xaviera, you don't sound like any follower of Chaos that I had unfortunate luck to meet. Actually you sound like my Novator back on Terra, only that instead of Chaos he said the Emperor. I just realized this sentence would've signed my death warrant just couple of years ago. How the times change." Delilah stood up and offered the cultist a hand and a smile. "So...Friends?" <Forge> @BuriasDempsey Getting away from the angry Warpsmith (and not getting clobbered from behind), Kombuse marched into the neighboring motor pool filled with all kinds of vehicles. However none of it matched the thing he was looking for, most of the armored assets were based on the same design like the Rhinos he just repaired, only these ones were either tanks or artillery pieces with the exception of three bigger vehicles the Space Marines often called Land Raiders. However none of it looked imposing enough and something in the back of Kombuse's mind told him to just keep walking and the thing he wanted to find will be there and his persistence payed off. In the back of the place where almost no light illuminated it the Pact Trooper spotted something big, bulky and threatening enough for him to approach it warily. Chained to the floor and the wall behind it was the biggest tank Kombuse ever saw in his life. Painted in midnight blue color with lighting streaking throughout its hull and the leering skull that dominated this ship's design fixed straight on its back, the vehicle looked quite imposing. He could spot not twin, like it was the usual stuff that he saw on the other vehicles and the flyer, but quad mounted lascannons mounted on the sponson grips plus a huge cannon on its front hull, the stuff you would use to lob shells into a wall or something, and of course a number of slots for heavy flamer units all around it. However all of it pared in comparison with the mighty main weapon of the tank, which was some sort of a strange looking cannon that looked like it had some sort of arcane electric coils built in it and didn't look like any conventional weapon Kombuse saw before. "Hello little one, have you come to admire me?" something spoke to Kombuse, but there was no one around him, the words forming in his mind. "I see you are curious soul? Perhaps I can help you? Show you things you've never seen before?" <Meeting with the Admiral> @Vlayden Ausarius would soon find himself on the crew deck where the Admiral's retinue was located. He came at somewhat busy time for them, for after the Bridge was cleared it was imperative to quickly regain control of the ship even though its course couldn't be changed at the moment, for any unforeseen problem that might occur Lady Augustine was needed to be present on it in order to solve it as fast as possible. Sorcerer found the humans gathering their supplies and belongings for the inevitable "change of workspace" and initially, the guards even attempted to turn him down but after hearing who was it that wanted to meet with her, Admiral agreed to see him in her quarters, so the Thousand Son quickly got there and saw the woman in the middle of packing her stuff into crates. "Greetings Lord Ausarius, I must say if it was anyone else I wouldn't have met him, but you will always be a welcomed guest," Augustine sounded quite friendly, she obviously never forgot the words she and the Sorcerer exchanged in the prison. "What can I do for you?"
The Sorcerer did little more than give a sigh and rest his spear along the wall, his pauldrons as low as ever. "Merely wishing to visit," he said, "see what I may do to help; good company is hard to come by, and there are few others who talk without that fearful glint in their eye from my mere existance." He said through the vox-grills. It wasn't long before he too leaned against the wall, looking surprisingly, human. If anything. "Almost ironic; for me, the one of my many brothers who at times preferred isolation and comfortably quiet solitude, now seeking company of others." A hand reflexively ran over his breastplate, the faint pains of the shrapnel inside he constantly pushed back psychically continuing to be a reminder of his situation. "How have you and your kin been, thus far? Aside from the odd attacks here and there, nothing too critical?" Ausarius did at least try to keep it away from being about his moping, going back to seeing what there is he may aid with. He may be only a traveller, but as a Thousand Son he certainly at least could get some people 'thinking' as he did, with some... 'Convincing'. Not that they would mind the scars, as it didn't lead to death as the presumable alternative would.
