"Orders received brother sergeant" Denatus said, though he wouldn't have minded assisting in the destruction of the tankbuster mob, he understood that his tools of destruction might still seem too dangerous and foreign, and to a degree they certainly where.
Denatus quickly moved to try and get an adventitious firering position where he could hit the the looted tanks, few things could survive his customized warheads, even if the tank survived he would just melt the orks within.
Knowing both the legendary endurance of land raiders and the often misguided tenacity of ork tech, Denatus knew it might just take 2 missiles to kill the thing for sure.

OOC: all out attack on looted landraider with rad missiles

Aleph's system flooded with adrenaline as the drop pod rocketed to the surface below. Under his helmet, he could feel his face split in a feral grin. This was the end to waiting and doubt. Now all would be washed away, cleansed in the fire. His gaze darted to his brothers around him, then back to the plummeting counter. Impact in-

The doors blew outward. Extrovious was already at the breach, scanning the battlefield in an instant.

"Secure this rise! We shall make a fine fire base here. Aleph, Arnock, join me in putting down that Nob immediately! Hold nothing back, I shall be your shield!"

Aleph held his flamer ready but with his other hand, he drew Night's Edge. The powered blade hummed into life with a whispered Nostraman phrase not muttered like an assassin's prayer, but roared into the teeth of battle. Cautorious' eyes were on him and more than that, his gene-Father watched them through the chain of command. Let him see the mettle of Fourth Squad. Alephoros' sprint increased along with his heartbeat, wasting no time he flung himself into combat, aiming at the Nob before the brute got time to see what a lethal challenge he had unleashed upon himself in the Third.

"CHILDREN OF THE EMPEROR, DEATH TO HIS FOES!"




OOC: Utility stance: Aleph doesn't gain any bonus actions however he gets rerolls for both of his normal actions with no penalties. Combined with All-out Attack so that both attacks will be spent on attacking the Nob for maximum effect. Using the flamer and Night's Edge.

4th Squad would charge out of the drop pod, instantly dropping down into combat stance and achieving perfect advantage against the aliens, intent on cutting their numbers a bit and evening out the odds. Assuming command of the squad and newly-found responsibilities didn't seem to trouble Extrovious at all, or at least it didn't show out front in the midst of battle. His jump pack brought him straight behind his Greenskin equivalent and the alien did as expected. Turning his cumbersome rokkit-fist around, he threw the punch but Extrovious caught it dead ahead, two power fields smashing into one another, lighting flaring all around before the armored digits were strained and the young Sergeant was pushed couple of steps backwards due to Nob's still greater physical strength.

Other Orks were all around him now but it was hardly an issue - the first one that tried to get his hands on him was met with power fist backhand that shattered creature's skull in an instant. There was little to kill as bolts flew all around Extrovious and clearing his surrounding of aliens, the sounds of the dying Orks signaling Audiomancer's arrival. Similarly like in the depths of the Greenskin battlestation, Elymas once again showed exemplary ranged capabilities, especially with his sidearm. Tankbustas were generally not the biggest of aliens around however despite it most of the Orks inside Urg's palace were some of the hardest specimen the race had to offer. Little did this fact matter to the Librarian as bolt to the skull was a safe bet the thing won't move any longer.

Another safe bet was using Primarch-made weapon. Crystal atop Phoenix's Resolve flickered to life, mimicking Elymas' psychic signature, as the Audiomancer smashed it into the aliens from above. Energy discharged and formed into a not so miniature blast that killed three Tankbustas in an instant while dazing couple of more of them, their eyes nearly burned out as they witnessed powerful sorcery. However Orks were such creatures that they kept on fighting no matter the cost and they started flailing around, trying to catch Elymas with their sharpened launchers but only one succeeded in the task, slashing a deep gouge in Librarian's left forearm before he slammed his staff into Ork's belly, the force launching the Tankbusta in the air and over the railing, straight towards its death in the lower levels of the palace where battle raged on.

Cleared of imminent danger, Extrovious saw that his plan was followed to the letter as their Standard Bearer raced to reach the Nob. Arnock aimed his new pistol straight at the Nob who turned around just to see the firearm heating up - and then promptly discharging heat all over Arnock's hand. Plasma weapons were notorious for their ability to overheat quickly, but in Arnock's case this could be attributed to one of the Legion's quartermasters and his inability to properly maintain weapons or simple bad luck as the first use made it malfunction.

There was no time to stop the charge now but there was also little time to adjust his strike. If this was a lesser Ork then Arnock would most likely succeed but sadly, leader of the Tankbusta squad was ready for him. Rokkit-fist connected with legionary's helmet and its left side was completely obliterated alongside most of Arnock's cheek and jaw on that side of his face. He was knocked on the floor, thankfully his choice of mounting the banner on his back now prevented it from touching the ground. Nob on the other hand, seemed to know this and stepped forward to take advantage of contused Arnock but Extrovious was there, shoulder-bashing him and forcing him to stumble to the side - straight into path of Aleph's flamer.

Squeezing the trigger on his weapon Aleph let loose an orange ray of fire that washed all over the Nob and set him aflame. Painful screams were followed with angry guttural growls as the Ork focused his pain into his next attack. Lumbering forward and still on fire, Tankbusta Nob used his own weapon to unleash a salvo of micro-missiles even their Techmarine would appreciate and promptly enveloped the swordsman in explosions. However one thing was to carpet the area in rockets and another thing completely to catch a Palatine Blade aspirant in such simplistic manner. Aleph's speed pushed him through the blast with smoke trailing behind him as he struck with his sword, cutting a piece of Ork's thigh before the thing lashed out and hit him in the shoulder, crumpling the ceramite and numbing his sword arm for a moment, enough for Aleph to disengage before he could suffer the same fate as Arnock.

While the melee-oriented part of the squad engaged the enemy "sergeant" with some issues, the rest focused on thinning the herd. Like in their previous deployment, Pholax and Jendon advanced together to put a stop to any further threat the anti-armor equipped aliens possessed. Devastator unpinned his grenade and let it loose, his throw true and the incendiary charge going off in the middle of Greenskins, two of them instantly turned into ash while another one fell over the railing, ending his life like a flaming comet of some kind. Their Nob's show of strength however made the remaining aliens more courageous and they stood ground, unloading couple of missiles towards the duo that blew pieces of construction all around them as well as their drop pod, which met the unfortunate end in one such explosion.

Pholax's experience with Orks carrying bombs seemed to have paid off here as he anticipated every attack, while Jendon suffered couple of superficial wounds but overall both of them survived the initial salvo and thankfully, they made sure there won't be another one. Devastator aimed his autocannon while the Apothecary brought up his custom bolter and they fired in unison, heavy weapon and modified gun spitting death. Unarmored alien bodies were simply ripped apart as the autocannon's shells were perhaps a bit of an overkill against such opponents but this mattered little. Some survived Pholax's shooting, albeit barely, but they didn't live for long as Jendon took care of them, the Apothecary now being a completely opposite of what he represented among the Legiones Astartes. Soon the guns stopped firing as the duo finished what their Librarian started. Extrovious' orders were obeyed and the Tankbusta squad had been completely destroyed.

Vitaly observed all of this, Techmarine's advanced tactical matrix switching from the now-dead Tankbustas to their troublesome leader, new calculations flowing through the HUD in an instant and best course of action was found. As he raises his gamma cannon to fire on the Nob Vitaly simultaneously links into the Legion's net and more information floods his systems. Emperor's Children's assets were mostly deployed within the Palace's interiors while only couple of squads had the bad luck of finding themselves outside the perimeter and on top of its giant walls. Seemingly-cursed Captain Minteril was one of these legionaries but Vitaly soon learns that all is well with these warriors, Captain of the 31st rallied them all together and joined the White Scars detachments, leading all of them together against Greenskin anti-air batteries. As for those inside, the battle was hard, the Orks not giving an inch without forcing the legionaries to pay the steep price in lives.

All of this was of course secondary as gamma rays formed and speared towards the Tankbusta Nob. His heavy armor and better equipment was of little help against such weapon as the ray punched straight into his chest, pulverizing bones and twisting armor and inner organs. Nob dropped to one knee but despite the horrible injuries and flames still licking his body the alien was somehow still alive and breathing, squeezing his fist as he struggled to get back into fighting.

While the rest of the 4th Squad fought with practiced moves born out of many decades of fighting together, its newest addition, Destroyer Denatus, had yet to prove the trust placed in him. Grabbing his missile launcher and aiming it at the stolen vehicle, whatever part of its Machine Spirit that remained inside would have to grit its teeth now as a rad missile streaked towards it. It was long way off and quite a difficult shot to make but Denatus was an experienced campaigner and his shot was true. Projectile slammed in the Land Raider's top armor and while it didn't punch through it, the explosion and ensuing irradiation instantly killed both the Ork standing on the hatch while firing big shoota and one of his comrades that was riding on the vehicle.

Their deaths were gruesome to watch, but there weren't many who would appreciate the kill as the Savages and Reaver squads kept on massacring each other, now completely ignoring everything else around and focusing purely on their brawl, which was still quite even. Denatus on the other hand, had other things to worry about.

It all happened at the same time. He spotted something attached to the railing from which he was firing, Elymas sensed imminent danger and Vitaly's proximity sensors suddenly went berserk. There was little time to act as the floor they were standing on was suddenly engulfed in cascading explosions that annihilated half of the structure apart and left the other half in ruins. Denatus and Pholax were too slow to react mostly due to their heavier equipment and both were sent flying down, crashing into the embattled legionaries on the "Middle Floor". Rest of the squad managed to grab hold of something, Aleph the only one who nearly fell as well if not for Extrovious who saw the blast mere moment earlier and grabbed his brother by his shoulder guard, Aleph for a second dangling above the hole before his new Sergeant pulled him back to safety.

Finally revealing their ugly snouts was a group of purple-colored Orks, each carrying a mix of modified weapons and enough explosives to do the sabotage all over again. They were hiding in the rubble nearby and waited for the moment where most of the 4th Squad was engaged before making their move. Still, frustration was well-written all over their faces as their maneuver didn't cause more of the Emperor's Children to fall down and those that fell down suffered only minor injuries, their power armor absorbing most of the impact and the actual injuries were due to the explosion itself. So while two of them, one with what looked like a stolen Excoriator chainaxe and another with a some kind of a triple-barreled bolter moved to cover their comrades, the other two set about fixing even more bombs around or simply trying to activate those that were already there but didn't go off.

While the smoke still hadn't cleared out, Denatus and Pholax regained their bearings, just in time for the Devastator to see a huge spiked mace coming down on him. Thankfully one of the Legion's Terminators stepped forward, smashing the weapon aside and stabbing the Nob wielding it straight in its heart. Thing however didn't die and it grabbed hold of Terminator's power glaive, stopping the legionary from dislodging it and just in time for another of its friends to swing its own hammer about. Ugly sound followed by a crack and Pholax saw his comrade's helmet giving away, the impact shattering the skull beneath. Now dead, Child of the Emperor crashed to the side and opened a gap in the wall of ceramite the Legion's elite formed against the Green Tide.

Nob took the step forward through the hole and towards two members of the 4th Squad but Leonis appeared besides them, using both hands to wield his own great blade. Slashing low, Lord Commander found his mark and Ork lost both of his legs in one fell swipe before losing his life as return strike sliced his throat. "Form up with the Luna Wolves and assume firing positions. We need to push these aliens back before we are bogged down here," Leonis told two heavy weapons experts and moved to assist the remaining honor guard as they struggled with the Greenskin onslaught, meeting their own leader head on. Behind all of this Luna Wolves gathered and engaged Flash Gitz in a proper firefight, not really able to provide necessary cover for the Terminators at the moment as the ranged-oriented aliens kept them quite busy.


Tides of War: Ork Palace Guards vs Luna Wolves and Emperor's Children. Current advantage: Neutral.

Top Floor (Damaged):
- Tankbusta Nob:5 [Burning], Saboteurs:8(choppa + hand burna)/8(grenade launcha)/8(custom shoota)/8(2handed chain choppa)
- Aleph:14 Vitaly:15 Jendon:14 Extrovious:15 Elymas:14 Arnock:11

Middle Floor:
- Flash Gitz:17, Nobz:12/9/12/10/11, Big Hamma:16
- Leonis:23, Terminators:15/18, Luna Wolves:12
- Pholax:13 Denatus:13

Bottom Floor:
- Looted Land Raider:[8], Savage Berzerkers:25, Berzerker Nob:12
- Luna Wolves:16

To move down or up a floor, you need to dedicate one action for it. Those who have jump packs can move freely up and down the floors without spending any action (including Vitaly). Orks will focus enemies on their floor but if left unchecked, they will concentrate their attacks against player chars on other floors. Trying to score a ranged hit from one floor to the next one confers -1 modifier, while two floors away confers -2 modifier. Enemies suffer same debuff. Top floor is currently heavily damaged making its navigation troublesome. Each turn I'll roll an easy "agility" check to see if you guys remained up there or fell down one floor. While the Ork Saboteurs are alive and not tied in combat, they'll try to blow up the remaining parts of the floor and send all of you flying down.

@Jorimel @Uriel1339 @DeranVendar @Draconion @Vulpas @dx144 @Grall_Stonefist @matt23

Extrovious smiled, emboldened by the speed with which the mob was cut down. Even if the Nob still stood, the chaff had been cleared in satisfactory time. Not to mention Elymas had already availed himself with several kills that did not involve utilizing his curse. Perhaps he took heed of my warnings after all. Thought was pleasant enough to keep him from feeling too guilty about his failure to protect Arnock from the initial knockdown he suffered. Not that there was time for such thoughts when the floor was about to explode anyways.

Gauntlet sweeps around and grabs onto the crease of Aleph's pauldron, Extrovious using the smaller of his two hands to haul his smaller brother up and practically chucking him onto level ground. More platform crumbles beneath him and Sergeant is forced to activate jump pack to hop away from possible free fall. Eyes bracket the battle field once, consuming as much information as he can.

"Consolidate on the floor below brothers! Reinforce the Lord Commander and our Devastators." Extrovious activates his jump pack, ascending rather than retreating to the low ground. "We shall show these xeno how proper soldiers engage in demolitions! Brother Techmarine, dismantle the ground from below when everyone has finished maneuvering!" Finding the purple painted greenskins to be insulting in ways he could not properly voice without just yelling, Extrovious opts to drown the canvas in a blazing array of red and orange. Bolt pistol, pre-loaded with his generous selection of Dragonfire rounds, is emptied into freshly revealed Saboteurs. Each bolt blossoms into a cloud of flame to rival the billowing clouds spat by Aleph's flamer. Extrovious' head scans the blaze, then Leonis' orders to his toppled brothers attract both ear and eye.

"Arnock, Aleph, fill that gap in the line! Jendon, tend to the wounded. Elymas be ready to meet any survivors in the rubble! Everyone else, engage at will." Familiar shift from ascension to fall begins pulling the assault brother back towards the fighting and Extrovious' expression sours in his helmet: Tankbusta Nob continues to breathe in spite of being burned alive. Too stupid to understand death has already come. Bitter a thought as it was the warrior would not underestimate the Ork, not one of that size and wielding fists of power flame. Leaning into his fall Extrovious falls like a comet, fist raised overhead once more.

"We are the true heralds of the Emperor's wrath! Perfect sons of the Phoenician! Death to the enemies of man!" Extrovious swings, looking to do his part in destroying the remainder of the floor by putting the Nob's corpse straight through it.

OOC: All Out Attack - Bolt Pistol w/ Dragonfire rounds on the Saboteurs, Power Fist attack on Tankbusta Nob and the floor. Also traveling to Middle Floor.

Orders:
All - Move down to Middle Floor
Vitaly - Destroy the Upper Floor
Aleph and Arnock - Engage Nobs and support the Terminators
Jendon - Heal wounded PCs/NPCs
Elymas - Engage any survivors from the Top Floor
Everyone Else - Engage at will

Jendon Hung in the air as the sound of bending metal and war filled his ears along with rinigng. "Son of a bitch, I swear brothers are my eyes deciveing me or are these mongrel's paitning themselves up like us just to get under our skin." Jendon said. As he began lifting his other arm up he began to hall himself onto the crumbling floor before hearing Extrovious's Orders. "You got it brother I will be down there in a jiff." Jendon said bringing his legs up he felt them touch earth below him looking downards then pushing off and activating his jump pack for a controlled fall.

Touching down behind the lines of Luna wolves Jendon could see several of there cousins looking to need a hand. Reviewing his brothers vitals, Jendon could see Arnock would need the most work, Cooling Balm, as well as a boost to his blood clotting around his face. @matt23 "Arnock when you ya get down here I will head towards ya to patch ya up, Our cousins are in a worser condition then us." Jendon said through the Vox towards Arnock before looking to the Luna wolves.

"Apothcary Jendon Fourth squad, Emporer's children at your service. I've been sent to aid your squads health." Jendon said before he went to work aiding the Luna wolves. Scans already where showing minor breachs in power armor, along with shrapnel wounds this would be simple removing the shrapnel and simply injecting stimulants for minor wounds and at worst need sealant for more major breachs.

OOC One Heal on luna wolves, One Heal on Arnock if and when he gets in range.

As Denatus got back up and got the bearings on the new floor he had just crashed down to.
"Understood sir" Denatus answered the order as, but before he really moved too far away from the front line he took something from his belt, "PHOSPHEX OUT" he yelled as he took his phosphex grenade and aimed to throw it towards the flashgitz in the back, course even if it dident get their it would sow great chaos and pain in the ork lines, no one stood against phosphex.
Then Denatus moved to get to the luna wolves firering lines, and if a good place to get a rad missile in dident show Denatus would aim to get the big hammer wielding nob with his Volkite serpenta.

OOC: all out attack, with the grenade in the back. and either a rad missile to the mob if a shot is possible, or volkite serpenta on the nob

@DeranVendar | @Draconion
"Affirmative, Sergeant! As long as Vitaly can bring them to fall, I shall smite whoever crawls out!" Elymas responded in the vox, already getting into motion, not even wasting precious bolt rounds for the purple painted Orks. Then Jendon's message reached his ear.

@Vulpas
"You give the greenskins a lot of credit to their lack of intelligence, Brother Apothecary. Probably it is some sort of tribal marking!" What better opportunity to educate a fellow man on the quest of knowledge than in the midst of the heat? But the librarian in truth simply got carried away on the height of his achievement in destroying the enemy. He had to maintain a better grasp on himself and not get carried away in the heat of the moment.

The librarian did put his trust into the Techmarine, no matter what happened before on the Ork station. Extrovious ushered an order - and it will be done. Elymas decided to put his bolt pistol back on his waist where it belonged and continue to hold his staff in his left hand before making his rapid descend in the form of a jump to the level below.

Once he arrived there, he would draw the explosive sidearm once more and watch with high attention of who, if any at all, would make it out of the rubble. And if it was an Ork - the foul alien would only be met with bolt rounds straight to the skull.

OOC:
- 1 Action jumping on one floor below as per Extrovious order
- 1 Action Overwatch with Bolt Pistol (all-out-attack) on Rubble that Vitaly will make; as per Extrovious Order

Feeling his hands engulfed in the heat from the misfire, Arnock grew in anger, "Damned thing. This is why I have always relied on swords... They don't fight back!" What made his anger multiple even more was the fact that the standard could have no doubt fallen had his new upgrade not been implemented. These orks were no different than most and yet Arnock found himself losing in the opening minutes of the battle.

However, just as Arnock was about to engage once more, Extrovious came across the squad vox with new orders. This was a moment in which Arnock felt torn. Being bested in such a manor by the xeno was insulting, but to pull away from the battle felt like a loss. In the end, orders were orders and to continue the execution of the mission, they needed to be followed. Moving towards Jendon briefly to allow for aid to be rendered, Arnock fell in to provide support where needed on the floor below. Looking to change the tide of battle, Arnock locked eyes with the Ork with the large hammer. Raising his power sword over his head, Arnock yelled, "Give the xenos no quarter!" He then charged directly at the hammer wielding ork. He let off a round from the plasma pistol once more before directing his power sword at the enemy's neck.

OOC: move down one floor to reinforce. Legion Champion on Big Hamma. All out attack one with power sword and one with plasma pistol.

@DeranVendar

"Acknowledged, Sergeant. Assuming rearguard and demolitions," comes Vitaly's clipped reply as he triggers his grav-engine, hovering an inch over the tangled rubble of the top floor to assume a firing position covering the entire level.

"Brothers - make egress to the middle level ASAP. I have a thermobaric charge with this floor's name on it, plus to whichever Ork it may concern. I will cover your backs."

Even as he speaks, the nano-foundry whirs ferociously, assembling a layered PTFE-nano-thermate warhead that will sweep the upper level in a concussive blast of searing heat and air pressure. If that alone will not drop the entire works straight down, the secondary implosion shock certainly will, to say nothing of suffocating, pulverising and flash-frying any Ork caught within. A quick auspex pulse identifies a key structural weakness that, when targeted, will spread cracks through over 90% of the level. Locking in that region as a target for the thermobaric warhead, Vitaly performs a sweep of the upper level, keeping an eye out for any Ork attempting to blindside his squad brothers, waiting for them to get to safety before bringing the level down.


OOC
Action Summary

- All-Out Overwatch @ Squad

- Standard Action: Fire in the Hole! w/ Thermobaric missile

Threat Assessment Matrix: Fire in the Hole! w/ Thermobaric missile

Special ammo: 3 clips Tempest rounds (bolt pistol)

Micro-Missile ammo

Standard Charges: 25/30 (counting down from 30, since no missiles expended last round)
Special Warheads: Stasis x 2, Cryo x 2, EMP x 1

The fall was fast and easy to recover from, Pholax's adrenaline running high, bouncing back from the ground as if it was a child's inflatable. The Terminators were as always an awe inspiring sight, to see one effortless take apart an Ork and move on was nothing more than incredible.

However seeing one being broken apart just as easily was less spirit raising.

Rushing into a makeshift defence that'd fallen from above and using it to stabilise his weaponry, Pholax was ready to engage them.

"Engaging those heavy shooters." Pholax voxed to the squad, unpinning a grenade and launching it again to clear out what he could, and then prepare to see any stragglers who'd attempt to fire back and make sure they'd eat an autocannon shell or two.

OOC:
One action throwing incendiary grenade at the Flash Gitz

One action over watching Flash Gitz.