As they gathered up their forces in the wake of the Ark's destruction, Aleph heeded what Captain Minteril had to say and, without any feeling of censure, the levelling words of Sidon as the Sergeant gave the heady praise his own sobering perspective. As a rider with a working jetbike he beckoned Martyn over and made room for him to fly tandem. No Brother left behind.

As the Apothecary and his own Brother tended his wounds, Alephoros felt the numbing sensation over half his face ease. He hadn't processed the injury - he hadn't had the time. While he currently lacked the external pinna the internal ear had survived and he was assured that such a flesh wound could be overcome with ease. Ease, and a little time in the Apothecarion with a cartilage scaffold and some of the Legion's germ-cell technology. The same for his face. Aleph trusted to the skill of Imperial technology to restore him and pushed any concerns resolutely to the back of his mind.

Pushing on likewise with resolution into the enemy fortress, the scent of blood rich in his transhuman nostrils, Aleph's hand tightened on his flamer. He longed to burn all of this to the ground. It was vile, something about the inhuman nature of the place creeping into his psyche and making him on edge. Or, he reflected materialistically, maybe it was just all that blood. Blood that belonged on the inside.

He was both disgusted upon entering the xenos' fane, and at the same time curiously on edge, as if the heightened nature of his response fed upon itself. As the grisly pantomime concluded, and he prepared to shoot, Captain Minteril darted forward, as swift as the alien priest and as vengeful as a true Son of the Phoenix.

Alephoros' mouth actually fell open a little behind his helm's faceplate as the noble Captain - as swift as he was - was cut apart. And seemingly with ease. Aleph felt his fury rise along with sheer disbelief. But his training was sure and he was resolute. They would not engage this febrile, decadent enemy on its own terms. His drew his bolt pistol. If they wanted bloodshed in melee, they were going to be denied.

Just then, Martyn - loud, honourable, stubbornly determined Martyn - ran forward, right into the enemy ranks. And even as he sought to change his stance to cover the impetuous fool, Extrovious had taken care of the problem and Brother Jendon was requesting his aid. The trainee Apothecary was right. Captain Minteril should not end his service dying in some foul xenos rite. Aleph refocussed his fire to cover Jendon., taking out any of the opportune and conveniently soft targets should any of the white-robed ones happen by. If they wanted to see the patterns of crimson blood on snow, let a true artist oblige.




OOC: Defence on Jendon, attacks should the chance arise on cultists while doing so. Jendon priority.

Killing as an art
​

Foolish or not, Martyn moved with the grace of his father as he charged towards the steps and the Dark Eldar leader, intent on reclaiming the remains of the fallen Captain and prevent the Xenos from sullying the Legion's honor. Three murderers stood in his way with their great wicked blades directed at him, the bulwark his flesh wouldn't be able to pass through, if not for Extrovious. Legionary Extrovious, the protector of his brothers, took upon himself a role which not many in the Third perhaps aspired to, trusting their own swordsmanship to be the best protection against pretty much everything, leaving the brawler-type of fighting to other, more barbaric Legions. But not Extrovious.

Activating his jump pack, he arrives before Martyn, hurling a frag grenade into the Disciples and preventing them from forming an united front. Explosion engulfs the staircase, two of the aliens back away, their robes in tatters and their bodies bleeding. Extrovious lands and smashes around with his chainsword, punishing both of these creatures with two back swings that pushed them even further back, allowing Martyn to hurry past all of them and towards the top of the dais. But before Extrovious could join him, the third Disciple makes his presence known - completely bald and with a tattooed rune on its forehead, dressed in white robes it looked like a specter of death itself. Two-handed swords sallies forth, going past Extrovious's guard and stabs him straight through chest and engine pack behind on his back. Momentarily stopped and dead in tracks, Assault legionary suffers another wound as one of the Disciples quickly sizes the moment, slashing at his legs in an attempt to hamstring him. Blade cut deep at his calf and muscle was separated from the bone, but the leg was still there, Extrovious's enhanced body put to its limits.

But his sacrifice bought Martyn time to reach the top, although as it would turn out, perhaps it would've been better if things went differently. "Using firearms is a sin against the Lord of Murder, the death they bring lacks to bring the sweet kiss which a blade gifts as it passes through soft flesh," Harkon said as Martyn fired, his body for the moment lost in the hail of explosions. Child of the Emperor saw the alien preparing his sword and as the bolts came, he began catching them on the flat side of his blade, each bolt exploding and preventing Martyn to see what happened. No matter, he slid onto his knees and moved through the blood-soaked marble with ease, getting to the fallen Captain's sword in no time.

"Ah, so you do have the taste for proper combat," Martyn heard the priest's voice and looked up, the alien standing where he was and besides couple of small shards that his armor stopped, the alien leader didn't seem all that troubled. "The only way I can know this for sure is to look in your blood and divine your fate," his draich moved once again, this time straight at Martyn. On ground and in a difficult position to parry, legionary got the borrowed powered sword up but Harkon hit him with such force that the power field strained to the maximum and his arm went numb, for a second forcing him to lower it a bit. It was all the priest needed for the second strike to cut through half of his left shoulder and arm holding the bolter below, the strike clean and true. Return blow nearly cut Martyn in half as the draich flew straight across the Golden Eagle on his chest, shattering it in two equal pieces.

Back on the ground, Pholax was once again getting to himself set to pour down some righteous fury upon these damned aliens, for who knows what time today. Kabalite Warriors saw the danger and began darting away, but this wasn't the first time Pholax had to deal with them and he knew what to expect. Tracing them with his weapon, the heavy bolter began barking - one by one, Dark Eldar died. First one was killed on spot, second one in mid-jump as he tried to get behind a marble column and third one managed to get behind that column, but simple stone was hardly a protection against the Devastator's weapon, so he too died as the bolts cut through it and his head in the process.

It was then that he saw a shadow looming over him. Clawed Fiend came at him, moving with the same agility the rest of his handlers possessed, not much of a surprise anymore that every part of this misbegotten race was fast on his feet. Meaty fist came around and Pholax tried to dodge to the side, but not in time. Backhanded, the Devastator was sent flying over the ground, straight into Vitaly, who at that moment was about to fire off a krak missile into the enemy leader. However being hit by his fellow Devastator completely ruined his aim and the missile went far off, hitting the ceiling and blowing up some stones, the Wyches that found themselves below simply jumped to the side and dodged the debris falling down on them.

Both of the Devastators on the floor at the moment looked defenseless, the fact exploited by the Kabalites wanting to exact some revenge on Pholax for lowering their numbers just couple of moments earlier. Hail of familiar splinter shards was thrown on them and both Pholax and Vitaly ate lots of it, where their bodies were mended by the 31st Company's Apothecary the wounds were open once again and more of the blood intertwined with the rest of it on these for some of the Dark Eldar hallowed grounds, much to their delight. This didn't mean however that the suffering was over. Clawed Fiend was still there and was lumbering towards them, the creature shrugging off small arms fire and focused on finishing the job.

Elymas was nearby, trying to employ his psychic powers and locate if anything remained of the good Captain inside of the cauldron of blood. However this was easier said than done - whatever he did was of no avail, the red haze was pushing against him. Song that he sang was reduced to no more than a whisper, forcing its way through the crimson sea. But despite it, he felt that something managed to push through and somewhere, deep down in the bloody pool, something responded. Librarian couldn't get grips on him, but he was certain. Minteril lived, if barely. His further attempts of trying to re-focus and get their leader out were stopped by a duo of Wyches.

Two daggers stabbed him in the chest before he could step away, the force staff swinging at his assailant and the Wych had time to pull out only one of her weapons, leaving the other one inside Elymas. Second alien struck low with her impaler and Librarian's thigh was ravaged, the crooked blade finding purchase and pushing the legionary on the defense. However before another blow came one of the nearby legionaries barged forward, hitting the dagger-wielding Wych with the butt of his bolter. Alien fell on the ground and legionary went with it, blow after blow cracked Wych's skull until nothing remained of it but a bloody mess. The other alien went around and slashed across the legionary's back but he didn't care, all that was important was reducing the enemy to dust and at that moment, Elymas realized it was Camille who saved him and it was Camille who was losing himself in the murderous rage that seemed to spread all around the temple.

While the Librarian was in a trouble of his own, Jendon and Aleph went ahead, first trying to see if anything remained of the Captain in a more traditional way and the second guarding him as he did so. First thing Jendon spotted was that the blood inside the cauldron was actually boiling and bubbling, even thought he was currently an Apothecary in training, he knew enough of the science to understand that whoever was inside of the cauldron didn't have much chance of surviving especially because as he lowered his hand into it he felt excruciating pain and when he brought hand up, he could see that the blood ate away the ceramite of his gauntlet in mere seconds. There was no sign of Captain's body, all that Jendon could see was the crimson fluid boiling under his gaze.

There wasn't much time for anything else as he caught attention of Dark Eldar, apparently they didn't like the Emperor's Children sneaking around their holy place. Group of three Wyches charged Jendon, intent on pushing him entirely into the bloody cauldron. Legionary was ready for them however and he shot one with his bolt pistol, explosive rounds finding the first one dead in chest, blowing half of her apart. Second and third one got in close and Jendon parried a barbed whip going for his throat, managing to twist it aside and counterattack, chainsword's teeth biting shallowly at Wych's pale leg before she danced away. Third alien however threw a set of small wicked knives at him and Jendon felt half a dozen of them piercing his chest. Momentarily stunned, he couldn't get out of the way and the Wych threw a net filled with razor sharp shards on him, the nasty hooks eating into his flesh straight through the power armor, rendering him in place for the Wych to execute him with a flick of her impaler.

But not if Aleph could help it. Wych attacking Jendon burst in flames, her body suddenly reduced to nothing more than a crisp, the corpse falling into the nearby cauldron and disintegrating in it, much to their murderous patron's amusement. Then one of the Disciples made their move, much like Aleph anticipated. Flamer's muzzle turned around and another gout was released, engulfing the white-robed monk in blessed promethium. Dark Eldar screamed in ecstasy, hurling himself straight through the flaming halo and directly into Aleph. Robes reduced to scarps, most of its skin turned to black, but the rune tattooed on the alien's forehead pulsed with crimson as its greatsword snaked towards Line brother's head.

Not about to suffer same wound like before, Aleph jumped back and the sword fell on his flamer, slicing it in half and reducing the weapon useless. Another slash came from below and opened Aleph's stomach, blood and pieces of ceramite mixed with flesh flew wide all over the Disciple, which seemed to be invigorated by it, stopping his assault to lick the blood from the edge of its weapon, unintentionally giving Aleph some time to recover and get his bearings back.


While the 4th Squad fought with best of their ability, the remainder of the Emperor's Children force fared somewhat worse. With the loss of Captain Minteril, Sidon tried to anchor their lines and drill some proper discipline back into their minds, however this didn't go so well. Many of the legionaries were lost in the blood-haze, charging forward with reckless abandon and fighting the Dark Eldar with tooth and nail. But this was something the servants of Khaine excelled at, and they reaped the members whenever they came at them with disregard of their own safety. Three legionaries headed straight for the rightmost staircase in attempt to avenge their Captain but all three of them were butchered by the Disciples standing guard, the aliens fighting with great savagery and precision as they dismantled Children of the Emperor, limb by bloody limb. Another two went down as the Wyches carved them into pieces and another one died by a lucky shot in the head from one of the Kabalites. Only couple of legionaries stood by Sidon, still sane, they formed a firing line that prevented Wyches from killing more of their brothers while the Sergeant stood at the front, swinging his eagle-headed mace he managed to smash two of the attacking aliens apart, holding the line and preventing them from being overrun.


Scions of the Bloody-Handed God:

Harkon the Red: 24 Wyches: 12 Harkon's Disciples: 5/6/8 (L) 4(attacking Aleph)/8/7 (R) Clawed Fiend: 16 Kabalite Warriors:10


Emperor's Children strikeforce:

9 Legionaries of the 31st Company

Camille:6 Martyn:4 Jendon:8 Pholax:8 Vitaly:6 Elymas:10 Aleph:8 Extrovious:7 Sidon:15

Combat Advantage: Dark Eldar advantage.

Each turn, each of you can allow yourself to be engulfed in murderous rage that will bring with it some attacking bonuses and defensive disadvantages as well as future ramifications. Wyches and Disciples are engaged in bloodlust and the more of the blood is spilled, the greater their damage will be. (L) and (R) tells you on which stairs each group is standing guard. Anyone who wants to fight the boss will be allowed to do so in melee combat without interference. Portal behind Harkon the Red is active and he will leave the combat if he becomes bored of it. Martyn lost his arm. Aleph lost his flamer.


@Jorimel @WanderingJester @dx144 @DeranVendar @Draconion @Vulpas @Uriel1339

Martyn didn't respond to Extrovious' yell, focused on charging up the dias in order to complete his recovery mission. Of course, this meant singlehandedly punching through the enemy lines, pushing past their inhumanly fast xenos leader, getting the weapon, then getting out. Simple, but difficult. Of course, his assault marine brother, faithful to the end, jumped in to break up the lines guarding the stairwell, allowing him to make it to the top, where the young space marine promptly opened fire at the enemy leader.

Which turned out about as effective as if he took his helmet off and spat at the target. The vile xenos proceeded to taunt him while turning aside his bolt rounds with his sword. This bought him time to dive at the power sword left behind, but not enough for much else as this Harkon the Red proceeded to descend upon him like some vengeful spirit of the dead. Before the young space marine could respond outside of a single block, the arm holding his bolter had fallen off from a cut, and his chestplate's aquila had been shattered in half.

With a strange calmness in the split second allotted to him in the alien's follow through, Martyn deactivated the power sword and placed it on his back, before using his remaining arm to reach his belt. Pulling out a frag grenade, he did little outside of priming it and dropping it at their feet. "I'm afraid not, xenos. I have what I came here for." With that, the young astartes turned around and jumped off of the dias, straight back at the crowd fighting Extrovious. Aiming to land in the midst of the fighting, he would pull out the recovered power sword once more.

"Objective achieved. Now let's regroup with the others, Extro." Martyn grinned through the vox, even as he moved to cover his brother's back in the melee.


@DeranVendar

OOC: Dropping at frag at Harkon, defense on self. Dove off the dias back at Extrovious' disciples' group.

"After we finish off these xeno Marty, I am going to do things to you that the World Eaters will believe to be art, and the Death Guard might find appalling." Extrovious' sounded to only be half-joking, speaking through gritted teeth and this murderous haze trying to steal sense from his actions. Martyn closes with Extrovious, finding the way cleared by a sweeping chainsword. Bolt pistol is maglocked to waist, and freed hand ends up clutching onto Martyn's pauldron, fingers wedged up underneath it. With a twist the legionary attempts to chuck the half-armed and half-witted fool back towards Sidon and co. Peeling himself off from the engagement, Extrovious bounds away from the Disciples, moving to reinforce Pholax and Vitaly against the Claw Fiend. Jump pack refuses to wake, any commands to activate spoiled by whatever damage was wrought by earlier piercing blow.

"Away from them beast! Your claws do not deserve to taste the blood of the Emperor's finest!" Chainsword in both hands he weaves around the creature's flank, attempting to drag the teeth across the back of its legs and leave it hamstrung. Failed assault or no, next position will leave him standing squarely between the monster and their Devastators, prepared to ram a shoulder into its chest and bully the beast if needs be."Jendon, if you would be so kind as to stop splashing about in the bath, we have actual living warriors that are getting very close to being dead out here!"

OOC: Defense on Martyn by chucking him towards friendlies, Attack/Taunt on the Clawed Fiend with Chainsword and bodily interception.

"Captain Minteril is alive!" Elymas roared through the vox-casters and vox-channel itself, his mind cleared by the searing pain in his leg. "Fight, brothers. Against the bloodthirst! For the Phoenician!" The librarian was overwhelmed with something akin to joy. Minteril was yet capable of being saved and he would rise stronger than before. Whatever that blood cauldron was made out of and whichever powers inhabited it. The captain fought it with every single fabric of his mind, body and soul. And if he was to survive it, almost nothing else would ever be able to kill him. Elymas was sure of it.

He saw the witch and the fallen Camille. Quite a pity to see one of his own give into this blind rage, but the librarian could not help be curious of how ones mind state would be when engulfed in it. Was he still capable of thinking but trapped within his own mind? Was he basically unconscious and his body simply bathing in blood? Or was it more akin to a dream?

First, Elymas had to remove the Xeno scum. Then he could worry about bringing Camille back from his madness. With the right hand he held the staff, the left grabbed the dagger stuck in him and threw it at the remaining Wych that was not being butchered by Camille. In the same motion, he sprinted straight across to the Wych, intending to bring down the staff with all of his might onto her head. "I'm a child of the Emperor! Death to his Foes!"

OOC:
#1 Pull Wych Dagger out of my body and throw it against her.
#2 Followed up by All-Out-Attack vs. Wych with force guitar-staff on her head.

"Sod this!"

An involuntary curse escapes Vitaly's lips as, with the devil's own luck, Harkon escapes eating a Krak charge, thanks to the timing of Pholax's arse-over-teakettle tumble straight into himself, causing the missile to go awry. Further muttered curses in thickest scavenger dialect spill from his lips as he attempts to scuttle into some form of cover to escape the splinter fire painfully perforating his body. He is a hair's breadth away from swinging his Soundstrike to bear on the Claw Fiend and disengaging the proximity safety locks on the missile arming systems of his next Krak missile, when Extrovious weighs into the monster, Martyn in tow.

@DeranVendar @dx144

"Thanks, Extrovious. Keep that thing off our backs while we wipe out their shooters. Pholax! Fire for effect, if you please!"

Blink-clicking a Frag missile into the Soundstrike, he lets fly at the Kabalites.

OOC
Action Summary

- All-Out Attack @ Kabalites with Frag Missile

"Damn These Xenos this Cauldrons blood eats through ceramite!" Jendon said as his chain sword began cutting through the net his combat night in his other hand he began cutting through net to cut himself see seeing Aleph taking down the xeno that almost had him he nodded knowing he would return the favor someday looking back at the cauldron he knew he had little time to look now for the captain if he was alive. He estimated only minutes but if he had to do something he had to do it now.

Spotting Aleph losing his flamer Jendon looked to him. @Jorimel "Catch Brother my blade you can borrow!" Jendon said as he heard Martyn he knew he had to aid there wounded but the captain could still be alive if not his geneseed were still at risk, Looking at the vitals of his squad he could see camile being at the lowest flashing yellow while other brothers from the 31st changing form yellows to ambers and reds. Suddenly he heard Elymas's voice "Hes Alive." Jendon looked to the cauldron if there was a chance to save him it was his duty to try.

"I am going in, if I don't come back out don't send anyone else in!" Jendon said as he looked down into the cauldron he held his combat knife in one hand and then attempted to swan dive in He had to be fast if he was to survive with the captain and bring him back up.

OOC All out attempt on diving into the cauldron and find the captain and then bring him up

Aleph gasped and swore, blood coming up as his armour was compromised and his guts felt the hot tear of metal. He stumbled back, but that took him out of range momentarily and he turned the stumble into a graceful evasion. He didn't have time to marvel at the cohesion of his Brothers in the face of such adversity, for not only was he rather busy, it was all he expected. His faith in their skill was a baseline from which nothing short of the Phoenician's disapproval would sway him. Privately, Aleph was not so proud of his own ability in this fight, but he didn't have time to dwell upon his failings like a sable son of the Raven. Legionary Aster stood up - or as much as his knitting stomach would allow, ceramite flakes pinging and tinkling to the floor as they spalled off his armour and were edged out of his regenerating flesh.

"This. Is not. A duel," he said through gritted teeth, snatching up his bolt pistol to shoot the opposing xenos through the centre mass. "We own the blade. You merely fetishize it for your heathen superstitious gods," he roared, his voice rising now, "and we will see you gone from this galaxy and your false idols with you!" Both his frags gone, Aleph sent a krak missile into the nearest knot of aliens as he caught up Jendon's thrown sword, holding it ready in his other hand to parry the next strikes once his opponent closed again - if he survived.



OOC: Shooting the Disciple with his bolt pistol, krak grenade to largest armoured mass of xenos (sufficiently away from his Brothers not to krak them too).

The pain knocked all sense out of Pholax, his calm that was kept was lost with his senses flooding with pain.

They'd pay, everyone single one of them, all of them will die, none left to live, everyone of them will be eviscerated, decapitated, ripped apart, turned to a paste.

Hauling himself to his feet with renewed vigour by giving into the murderous rage demanding of him.

The words of his brother either did get to him or the pure desire for revenge and for a show of violence that makes the Xenos know who's is better, is unknown to Pholax and anyone else but he's going to shoot down everything that isn't of his kin, provided they don't get in his way, these Xenos needed to be purged and make an example of.

Pholax unloaded his heavy bolter like madman into the Kabalites. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" Pholax roared as he sprayed rounds into them.

There is a voice in Pholax's mind demanding his attention to regain control but it's words are lost on his mind.

OOC

All out attack on the Kabalites while giving into the murderous rage.

Lords of Murder meet Lords of Perfection
​

Aleph brings his pistol up and fires - indeed, this wasn't a duel. This creature was unworthy of a warrior's death, honor not something any alien in this galaxy would understand, being so dispatched from what Mankind deemed was natural. Too drunk on feeding on Aleph's blood, the Disciple fails to move out of the way and could only watch as his torso was blown open. But there was no signs of agony on its pale face, only the blissful smile of life given in the service of its Murderous Lord. There was no chance to contemplate on it as more of the Wyches closed in, Aleph activating his krak grenade and sending it flying towards the Xenos while simultaneously catching the thrown chainsword from Jendon. Explosive payload wasn't that effective, the blast easy for most of the aliens to evade, only one of the gladiatorixes getting caught up in it and dying on the spot. Three of them, all carrying paired daggers came at the Line brother, thankfully he was better prepared to meet them. Few of the hits went through, nicking at his armor and drawing tiny specks of blood that Aleph's body closed fast. It would seem that hard lessons learned during his dueling matches with Extrovious payed off, the young legionary pushed on the defense but holding strong, adamantium teeth clashing with monomolecular edges and preventing any serious damage ( @Jorimel you can kill 3 Wyches with your next post).

Speaking of Jendon, the aspiring Apothecary now perhaps for the first time, showed the rest of his squad the sacrifices he was willing to make for the well-being of his brothers. He threw his chainsword and jumped into the bubbling cauldron, going on only on what Elymas told him and proving that not everyone mistrusted the Librarian. But what Elymas didn't couldn't tell him, nor anyone except perhaps the stricken Captain or his assailant or even the thing these aliens considered their God, was what to expect when his body submerged into the red vitae. Pain, indescribable pain. Jendon felt every fiber of his being screaming as he dived deep, both mind and body assaulted by whatever held domain in the depths of this place.

Body burned as his armor melted under the pressure of what definitely wasn't simple blood, mind bent as cries of thousand souls begging him to be released. Or perhaps not, as that kind of a thought was almost heretical in these times, but it didn't change the fact Jendon knew, somewhere deep down, that as he swam ever lower the shadow looming over him was a part of something infinitely greater and more murderous that he could possibly imagine. But there was salvation somewhere at the end of this trip, after swimming deeper than it was normally possible for this pool to even be, Jendon caught sight of something that was neither some past victim or its executioner, but something much more familiar. Warrior clad in once purple armor, missing one leg and an arm but in its good one still clutching the shining power sword that served as a beacon in the red mist, letting Jendon get to him faster. Grabbing hold of stricken Minteril, Jendon pushed back with whatever strength he possessed, activating the jump pack's boosters to get out of this place quicker. Engines were strained but the Imperial technology prevailed and young legionary pushed out of the pool, the return trip much shorter than the initial dive. The moment he was clear of the cauldron the mental pain left him, but the physical was still present - his armor was either melted or fused with his skin and what only saved him from completely getting turned into a bloody slag was his own will.

Captain on the other hand, looked far worse. He had no armor on him, everything was completely annihilated. Body suffering severe burns, once proud face, the image of their father, now turned into an unrecognizable mess. But despite the horrific injuries, Minteril was still alive and still drew breath. "Brother..." he slowly spoke, grimacing as every word brought him pain, "Make them suffer...as I suffer," he extended his hand, the sword he held close to his chest, a thing of beauty crafted by superlative blacksmiths, was offered to Jendon to serve as a weapon of revenge.

Elymas also became aware of Jendon bringing Captain back, but he couldn't really focus on it and the fact that Minteril might be alive partially due to his own actions because he had other things to worry about. Wych laughed as she saw him pulling out the dagger and throwing it back at her, the sound of her voice both seductive and disgusting at the same time. She caught the thrown dagger and slid under Elymas's blow with such grace that it made him look more than clumsy in comparison. Sharp blades flashing, the Wych slid the first dagger into Librarian's kidney while with the second one she expertly weaved through the open armor and eviscerated him, pulling out organs like a professional butcher. Child of the Emperor swung around but the alien woman was already moving, daggers going into the chest from below, the Wych trying to find Elymas's hearts and offer them for Khaine. In all his agony, the Librarian also saw his brother Camille close by, now attacked by another group of Wyches he flailed around with his fists, trying to end them just like he did the one before but failing miserably at that, the aliens obviously now toying with him as they darted around and sought to bring him down by inflicting thousand little wounds.

Up on the dais, Martyn decided it was best to leave the chosen of Khaine to some other legionary (or an entire shooting platoon) to face, unpinning a frag grenade and throwing it at Harkon's feet to cover his escape. No matter how exalted the priest was in the eyes of his patron, eating a simple grenade was something that always worked. Lost in the spray of shrapnel, his robes torn to shreds and his armor finally beginning to look a bit battered, Harkon the Red could only watch Martyn as he jumped down from the dais, rolling to get back on his feet as quickly as possible. He got close to where Extrovious was fighting three Disciples on his own and before his Assault brother could get hold of him and throw him back, one of the alien swordmasters, perhaps enraged by the fact he was fleeing from being sacrificed to the Lord of Murder, roared and jumped behind Martyn, swinging his greatsword as he came near. Back armor and half of the power pack was cut in two alongside better part of Martyn's upper back, his life saved due to Minteril's sword stopping the Dark Eldar's weapon from annihilating his spine.

Stricken and moving slower and slower both due to mounting injuries and his armor losing its power source, Martyn was in the alien's mercy but that is when Extrovious got to him. Previously smashing one of the Disciples in its face and breaking its nose and getting himself clear of the grips of the second by a well-placed low kick, the Assault Legionary got there just in time to grab his brother and throw him where Vitaly and Pholax were about to get up and face the Clawed Fiend ( @DeranVendar you can kill 1 of the Disciples with your next post). Clearing himself from the robed Xenos, Extrovious was about to use his jump pack but it went haywire, the entire thing useless for him now but thankfully Sidon moved in, swinging his mace at the surviving aliens and preventing them from wounding Extrovious. "Go on brother, I got this covered," the Sergeant told him, half of his face bloody from both his and alien's blood but he kept on fighting, gathering the remaining Emperor's Children in a compact squad that moved with purpose towards the stairs in what seemed to be an attempt of attacking Harkon in group and finishing their mission whatever the cost.

Free to face the ape-like monster, Extrovious closed the distance and shoulder-bashed the best from the side just as it was about to run into Pholax. Momentarily dazed, the beast suffered a blow as Extrovious's sword bit deep into its leg, chained teeth screaming as they cut through the tough hide and into soft flesh beneath. Roaring in pain, creature swung its tail around and Assault legionary was on the ground, air thrown out of its lungs and chest plate buckling under impact. Pholax on the other hand, fully gave into the effects of whatever the foul ritual did to influence their minds, the fury born from sheer lust for murder overtaking him as he sent bolt after bolt into the Kabalites. However while his senses were heightened to a degree, the red haze fell all over his sight, deeming him to forgo the ranged combat and move into the melee where he could personally feel the taste of blood of his enemies. He managed to kill only one of the aliens before the Clawed Fiend got to him, the monster slamming its fist into him from above. Impact stunned Pholax and punched him into the ground, the sheer impact shattering his helmet into hundred little pieces, those that didn't simply fly around stabbed into his skull, fracturing it in couple of places.

All of this left Vitaly to deal with the Kabalites on his own, hopefully in quick enough fashion due to how the battle was turning. Exchanging fire with the aliens, young tinker sent a missile heading their way while they sent him a gift of their own, couple of plasma grenades plus another salvo of poisonous shards. He managed to dodge the shards, getting fired at one to many times during this deployment made Vitaly's brain already figure out the spread and trajectory of splinter ammunition fired from the rifles, getting away from it now proved to be an easier feat than normal. However this didn't count the grenade factor and they blew up close to him, where the plasma hit the power armor was melted into a crisp alongside legionary's flesh beneath, the feeling close to being cooked alive - it didn't seem that this particular group of aliens cared all that much about the temple's structure. If there was any consolation it was that his missile also hit home, blowing up three of the Dark Eldar apart, their bodes ripped apart by the explosion and one of the stone pillars they used as cover destroyed completely, causing more of the ceiling to fall down and crush another of the Kabalites under its weight (
@Draconion you can emote killing 2-3 Kabalite Warriors with your next post).

The overall battle was turning a bit around, as Jendon saved Captain Minteril and Sidon remained sane, the Emperor's Children were slowly shrugging off the effects of the alien witchery and were fighting around Sidon to get close both with Harkon and their Captain. Mountain shook again as bolters fired, the Wyches that danced around the battlefield and executed two more of the wounded legionaries were pushed on the defensive under the implacable advance of the sons of Fulgrim. As for the Blood Priest himself, Harkon looked quite bored now, Martyn fled the scene and most of the Space Marines were either firing on him or ignoring him, both of these things making the alien impatient. Blood flew in rivers but he knew that their days on this planet were coming to an end and he started considering leaving it all to ruin.


Scions of the Bloody-Handed God:

Harkon the Red: 20 Wyches: 7 Harkon's Disciples: 6/7 (L) 6/6 (R) Clawed Fiend: 14 Kabalite Warriors:6


Emperor's Children strikeforce:

7 Legionaries of the 31st Company, Captain Minteril (incapacitated)

Camille:3 Martyn:2 Jendon:4 Pholax:4 Vitaly:5 Elymas:6 Aleph:7 Extrovious:6 Sidon:11

Combat Advantage: Neutral.
Each turn, each of you can allow yourself to be engulfed in murderous rage that will bring with it some attacking bonuses and defensive disadvantages as well as future ramifications. Wyches and Disciples are engaged in bloodlust and the more of the blood is spilled, the greater their damage will be. (L) and (R) tells you on which stairs each group is standing guard. Anyone who wants to fight the boss will be allowed to do so in melee combat without interference. Portal behind Harkon the Red is active and he will leave the combat if he becomes bored of it. Martyn lost his arm. Aleph lost his flamer.


@Jorimel @WanderingJester @dx144 @DeranVendar @Draconion @Vulpas @Uriel1339