Whatever his Sergeant might've wished for him, Elymas knew his calling and the nether powers he commanded were, for better of worse, summoned once again. Manifesting in a shape of a great phoenix but visible only for those with the eye for these things, the majestic bird breathed life in bodies of every Astartes present. Each member of the 4th Squad felt his spirits rising, the pain of their injuries lessened for a moment as the Audiomancer used his psychic potential to knit the wounds and mend the flesh. Even Luna Wolves were affected, those that his Apothecary friend couldn't help got back to their feet, suddenly invigorated by the wave of positive energy. The only one who remained unaffected by the spell was Horus himself, the Primarch appearing in Elymas' psychic eye as a giant fortress, impossible to be assailed by such things.

At that moment he realized that Horus stopped and looked back at him as if sensing the Audiomancer's work however if his thoughts were for it or against it, Elymas couldn't tell. There was no time to dwell on the matter because as he suspected, the last remaining Saboteur was back, looking for blood. Casting the spell took its toil and Elymas was unable to bring Phoenix's Resolve around in time before the rampaging Ork was on him, the staff smashed aside by the giant axe with ease, the alien wielding it with exceptional skill despite him looting it from some long dead World Eater. Opening his opponent's guard for a second, Saboteur forgone the wide return strike and chose the upward stab instead, using the sharp spike on top of the Excoriator as he would use a spear and looking for the sweet spot below Elymas's jaw. Psyker was fast and seeing the danger, he twisted the head aside but the blade went straight across his right cheek and ravaged his eye and brow. Blood instantly clouded his vision but he didn't need his normal sight to know that the Ork was bringing his weapon around for a decapitating strike that would finish the job.

Back on the front lines, Arnock and Leonis worked together to bring the Nob leader down. "Keep it occupied, I'll strike from the sides," Lord Commander told his Standard Bearer, keeping it short because there wasn't much to say and being a consummate swordsman himself, Leonis reached that level of battlefield focus where outside interference didn't matter anymore. Fighting in pair with as much skill as any Emperor's Children legionary would no matter the squad or hierarchy of his peer, Arnock went first. His sword searched for the Big Hamma's neck but the alien pushed his shoulder in the way, Arnock shredding a piece of the armor away but not much else. Creature then tried to retaliate by barging into the Standard Bearer but the legionary knew better than to fall for the same attack twice, jumping to the side and letting the swing miss him. Once again his sword flashed and this time around it cut a deep gash in Big Hamma's thick throat, but the monster's neck was so large that the alien kept on fighting, living through the injury that would fell a lesser creature.

Further showing that there was no stopping it that easily, Big Hamma lashed out and struck Arnock across his chest with the iron haft of his hammer, the strength behind the blow enough to push the legionary away. But that was when Leonis attacked, syncing his steps with those of Arnock so that Big Hamma could never be completely free to send a proper strike into the other legionary. Lord Commander thrust his greatsword into the Ork's rib cage before twisting the blade and pulling it out sideways, slicing the pectoral muscle in half and nearly killing the alien there, however the thing once again denied any reasoning as it roared in pain but still kept on going. However as Big Hamma swung its weapon around Leonis nimbly rolled underneath it, the creature now significantly slower than before as the blood loss and various wounds began mounting up. "Continue with the pressure brother and together, we'll claim the kill, for the Legion."

Close by, Jendon got back to healing more of his brothers in what seemed to be a never ending stream of injuries that just kept mounting up. Apothecary was up for the task and he got down on his knees, injecting healing stimulants to speed up Terminator's recovery while simultaneously adding repair cement and sealing up the wounds. He worked with such speed and efficiency that in mere moments the veteran Emperor's Children legionary got back into fighting, his power glaive flashing as it caught one of the Nobs that charged at them below the belt, ravaging its body and forcing it to double done just in time for the second Terminator to step forward and smash his power fist into the creature, killing it on the spot. "Thank you brother," it was all the veteran legionary said before taking a stand next to the other Terminator and once again forming the wall against Greenskin menace.

There were two more Nobs standing but Aleph was there and so was Horus. While the swordsman saw one of the Nobs breaking past the Terminators and going for Jendon, Primarch of the Luna Wolves was couple of steps ahead. Intercepting the alien Horus caught him on the side and drove his lightning claws into the creature, forcing it away from the Apothecary and towards the edge of the floor. Suddenly out of Lupercal's shadow, both Aleph and Jendon saw one of the Orks from the reinforcements approaching, the one parodying an Apothecary.

Jendon's evil twin stepped forward and raised a strange-looking syringe-pistol at Aleph, who at that moment dashed forward to try and intercept the attack. Night's Edge was at the ready but Dok Jewlz's own whirling red mechanical eye that was supposed to act as a diagnostic tool traced his every move. Second later he fired the weapon and a couple of shards embedded into Alephoros' chest, him suddenly feeling dizzy and nauseous, feeling similar to being hit by some kind of Dark Eldar toxin. Substance that currently ran amok through his blood vessels was indeed poisonous as it sapped him of his strength and more importantly, speed to evade the follow up attack that came in form of dozen little Gretchin who jumped on his form and started stabbing with crude medical tools, cutting into the open wounds and making his life even more miserable (@Jorimel Gretchin are a part of Dok Jewlz's HP pool (they represent one of Dok's attack rolls) and even though I didn't write them down there you can assume they are present).

While the Dok left his assistants deal with Aleph, he turned his full attention on Jendon. "Youz a simple nok'off 'ealer git. I'mz guna show 'ou how a real Dokta foights!" the Greenskin taunted and stepped in to smash the Apothecary with his drill, crude weapon but looking quite effective. However the lunge came short and Jendon managed to get away with only a shallow stab where Dok Jewlz tried to force his way into Jendon's right arm.

All of this happened at the same time as Extrovious moved to set the next part of his tactical maneuver in motion. Fumbling a grenade wasn't a real term for it wasn't possible for one of the Astartes to do such a thing, but the young Sergeant could've done the job better as his throw left a lot to be desired for. Stun grenade fell short of the Taktikul squad and not a single one of them was affected by it. All Extrovious did was paint a large target on his back and a hail of bolt shots followed his descent, riddling his back with shrapnel and drawing his blood properly for the first time today.

But there wasn't time to pay attention to such simple things as he saw Denatus taking aim and firing off a missile towards the Land Raider below. Destroyer's aim was good this time around and the explosive payload hit the tank at a proper angle, the already damaged plating not withstanding such hit. Both the bolter and its ammo feed exploded, killing half of the crew inside and forcing the vehicle to grind to a sudden halt. It was just in time as Extrovious came crashing down, the power fist hitting the Land Raider dead in center, stunning the remaining passengers and allowing Extrovious couple of moments where he peeled the armor layer off, revealing bunch of wounded Greenskins inside of it that were still unaware of what was going on exactly (@DeranVendar you can deal with the Land Raider and its crew as you see fit during the next post).

But then couple of unfortunate things happened. Extrovious felt a certain type of dread as ozone thickened around him, the feeling familiar to him as he spent a lot of time among psykers. The interlude, the breeze before the storm. It seemed as if time slowed for a fraction, enough for him to see lightning crackling around Ork Weirdboy who was standing on the floor above him but its yellow eyes gazed at him hungrily. Moment later and the energy discharge flew from the creature's staff, green bolt of warp lightning smashing into Extrovious' chest and cooked him inside-out. Flesh and bones were set aflame as psychic touch washed all over the Sergeant, the pain not something that could be described by words. As he suffered in the aftermath of getting hit by a magic missile, Extrovious saw that that wasn't the end of his problems. Majority of the Luna Wolves on the bottom floor were either dead or dying and the Savage Orks were executing the stragglers. What was worse, he saw the form of the Nob leading them, hefting two large axes and having various tribal symbols all across his naked chest, he slowly approached him and lifted his weapons up in what was clearly a challenge.

As for Denatus, he had other things to worry about as one of the Devastata Nobs aimed his large cannon at him, the weapon quite advanced when it comes to Ork technology. Gout of super-heated plasma came his way and annihilated the spot where he was just standing, the Destroyer managing to jump out of the way just in time and survive with only slightly blackened armor. Before another of the Nobs could get a bead on him, Pholax stepped up and threw his last incendiary grenade at the Orkstartes counterparts, trying to repeat the previous success he had. Alas, it would seem that his luck finally ran dry as the Devastata Nob carrying heavy bolter, which were actually two big shootas linked together, started firing in advance and blew the explosive midair, showing a glimpse of Greenskin marksmanship skill that was more than just spraying and praying. What was worse is that he kept on firing, preventing Pholax from properly aiming his autocannon as number of bolts struck him dead in center, blowing pieces of his armor away and revealing flesh beneath it.

Amid all that firing Pholax also spotted the third Nob raising his plasma cannon and aiming it in his direction, obviously wanting to score on the fact Devastator was unable to defend himself now. But the shot never came as a missile blew up somewhere above, followed by a rain of heavy masonry that fell on the Devastata and killed him on the spot. Vitaly's calculations were the main reason this happened as their Techmarine worked on how to best deal with the enemy at hand. Sadly, the majority of the Orkstartes, whether voluntarily or not, moved away from any position that could be exploited in such way and Vitaly was left with only one of the Devastatas in danger of getting killed like this, which was the opportunity he took and now the Orkstartes were left with one less heavy weapons expert.

Another missile was sent, this one going for the biggest Ork around. Slowly lumbering beast was an easy target alright but as the thermobaric missile exploded Robork Gorkman just brushed it off and kept on marching as if nothing happened. Custom mega armor was slightly damaged but this didn't bother him at all - instead he rose his fists in the air, spreading the digits to reveal in-built shootas that were searching for Vitaly just as the monster roared. "KOURAGE AND 'ONA MY BRUVAS! FOR DA ULTRA-ORKS!"

His battlecry was echoed by the rest of the nearby Taktikul Gits and the entire "sky" flared as dozens of bolts were fired, all searching for Vitaly's form. The sheer amount of fire was not something to gawk at as the Techmarine's senses registered number of breaches and even more impacts on his armor, but it would seem that only the Devastatas knew how to properly shoot as this ended up being classic Greenskin fire fest, where they hoped rather than properly aimed and executed the ranged attack. The only thing they achieved however was forcing Vitaly to land and not risk one of these aliens scoring a lucky hit that could blow him out of the sky for good.

He landed near Horus, just in time to see the Primarch eviscerating one of the Nobs before throwing him off the ledge. Even though he was covered in Xenos blood, Lupercal looked quite majestic then, his eyes shining with obvious martial dominance and even greater intelligence. He never seemed to hesitate as he spoke next, his voice carrying over the dim of battle with an ease of a demolisher cannon.

"This is taking far too long. Devastators, focus all your firepower on the enemy leader, the rest of you don't try to engage him in melee or you might end up with your glory run cut short. Apothecary, stop mending the wounds of your brothers and focus on killing the aliens, the quicker they die the less injuries they'll cause. The rest of you front-line fighters, I want to see the famed martial skill the Third so proudly boasts it possesses. So far many of you have been lacking it. Librarian, you should tackle the enemy witch's problem, your skillset is the most adequate for it."

"As for you Techmarine," Horus turned towards Vitaly, nodding towards the bottom floor and the stricken Land Raider, "Do you reckon you could get it back into our hands and operational? We might need the extra firepower? And don't worry about your Sergeant, I got it covered," Lupercal grinned and jumped from the ledge, straight into the biggest knot of Savages who were just about to learn that slaying sons of a Primarch while he is around was perhaps the worst decision they ever made.


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

Middle Floor:
- Nobz:10, Big Hamma:8(LC is active), Saboteurs:5(2handed Choppa)
- Leonis:24, Terminators:12/14 (PwP active against Nobs), Luna Wolves:10
- Pholax:13 Denatus:12, Vitaly:13, Elymas:10, Arnock:9, Aleph:10 (poisoned), Jendon:14

Orkstartes Reinforcements: Robork Gorkman:36 Dok Jewlz:20 Tigrikus Da Zapper:20 Taktikul Gits:14 Devastata Nobs: 9(PC)/9(HB)

Bottom Floor:
- Looted Land Raider:[2], Savage Berzerkers:14, Berzerker Nob:9
- Luna Wolves:3, Horus Lupercal:150
- Extrovious:10

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. As long as Horus is around, Tides of War cannot fall beneath certain threshold. Elymas has lost his right eye. Aleph is under effect of debilitating poison and will suffer increasing debuffs on all of his rolls as long as the poison is up. Jendon needs to pass a successful healing test to remove it.

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

Time stood still. In that one moment. When the fortress equivalent to Terra itself stared down at him. Making him feel so minuscule in the greater scheme of things, a single outpost tower compared to the mental prowess of a Primarch. Yet. There was a smile on the young librarians face. Acknowledgment. No. Because only a psyker would be able to muster such defense against anything that had to do with these powers.

As the eye contact broke, time started to flow at a normal speed again and Elymas found himself quite in a tricky situation, being forced on the defensive. Phoenix's Resolve got raised over and over again, blocking deadly strikes coming from the wannabe World Eater. The physical power was overwhelming for the not-so-martial psyker. 'Seems like Extrovious was right.' He grunted to himself in mind before all he could see was blood from his face, spurting out after half his face appeared to be missing, having completely lost any bit of vision from his right side. Pain was immediately killed by his body kicking into overdrive with adrenaline and the larraman organ working double time to clot the wounds.

Elymas roared and did muster his physical capabilities to survive yet a bit longer and from the frustration of letting such disgrace occur. As indecisive blows yet were exchanged between him and the Ork, Horus would usher orders. And he would see them done.

"Engaging enemy psyker to support Sergeant Extrovious! Expect this Saboteur here to go rogue or follow me!" The librarian yelled through the vox to his squad, making sure there was enough distance between himself and his current enemy before turning and running off.

And so he did once the timing was right. As fast as his feet would carry him, while adjusting to his new limited vision, he would rush to Extrovious position which was easy for him to follow, due to the powerful psychic presence of the Ork. He would not roar at the enemy like a Space Wolf, nor would he try to sneak upon him like an Alpha Legionnaire. Like a true Emperor's Child, it would be just a right balance.

Elymas would have used his powers once more. But either to prove himself, or Extrovious, he decided to use them as a last resort. Phoenix's Resolve was held with both hands, getting ready to smash it right onto the skull of the Ultramarine librarian imitation. The mind was where the power of a sorcerer lies. To go for the heart, was to allow the psyker to use one more spell. And the librarian would not have himself be destroyed with a single snap. No, he would go straight for the head and eliminate this threat once and for all.

OOC:
Balance Attack vs. Tigrikus da Zapper with Phoenix's Resolve

"I have a melta warhead next with your name on it, you oversized *mutter* *mumble*," grumbles Vitaly as Robork brushes aside the thermobaric missile as he would an annoying fly.

The next thing out of Vitaly's mouth is, "Oh, poo," as the return fire blots out the sky and dings him good.

Performing the Chaingun Cha-Cha, Vitaly ducks behind the cover of some crumbled masonry and throws himself off a ledge facing away from the enemy, gunning his grav-engine in a controlled descent to the bottom floor.

And finds himself lighting down next to a demigod, an avatar of war clad in artificed armour and genehanced flesh. When Horus addresses him, he responds as was taught by Legion drill-sergeants - snapping to attention and slamming fist to chest in salute.

"Remember, Aspirant - a Legionnaire on duty neither kneels nor bows, save at the command of his Primarch or the Blessed Emperor Himself. When showing respect, he stands tall and salutes sharply, speaking loudly and clearly, for he carries on his shoulders the martial pride of the Imperium...and the Imperium kneels to none but its lord and master."

"Aye, Lord Horus! It can be done, if only I could have some covering fire!"

With that, he makes for the crippled Land Raider in a grav-engine-assisted sprint, side-stepping attackers and vaulting obstacles with the deftness of a circus acrobat. Skidding into cover beside the battered hull, he extrudes a serpents' nest of mechadendrites, seeking out the data access ports that are, mercifully, still intact. He winces in sympathetic pain as line after line of critical alerts and debased, corrupted code scrolls across his HUD.

"You've been through the wringer, right enough," he mutters, "Let's fix you up and get you back into the fight - on the right side this time."

As he begins his work, his servo-arms and other mechadendrites begin attending to the Land Raider's physical damage, triaging the worst damage first. A combat subroutine runs in the background of his enhanced brain, keyed into to his Auspex and auto-senses for approaching hostiles, ready to trigger his Lightning Field at the most opportune moment.

OOC
Action Summary

- All-Out Action: Emergency repairs @ Land Raider

- Standard Action: Defence @ Self w/Lightning Field (3 charges)

Threat Assessment Matrix: Emergency repairs @ Land Raider

Special ammo: 3 clips Tempest rounds (bolt pistol)

Micro-Missile ammo

Standard Charges: 15/30
Special Warheads: Stasis x 2, Cryo x 2, EMP x 1

Extrovious sends the looted Raider's crew to hell in a burst of flame, pistol kicking as two more of his Dragonfire shells vanish into the hold. Instincts howl in tune with the dying greenskins, altogether familiar and unpleasant sensation of witches at work set off every siren in both head and heart that things are not well. Hair raising aggression is swaddled in restorative energies that warm his body against the chemically numbed pain eating at his various wounds. Without warning it blossoms into a pain that lights itself upon his flesh and goes beyond that in ways only Warp craft can...or in this case green craft. Damn you Elymas, I warned you. Knee jerk reaction dips into a well of black rage that sees his limbs moving against the catastrophic blow. Eyes rise and he sees Tigrikus. Without an ounce of guilt over the assumption he prepares to fly up and pummel the xeno.

Clang,Clang
​

Extrovious' wheels about, coming face to jaw with the Nob that lead the charge against the Luna Wolves thrashing its blades together in challenge. Only the sound and subsequent descent of Horus Lupercal centers the Sergeant. Rage does not abate, but sense of duty chains him to remain and finish the job down low- that and how often does one get the opportunity to fight side by side with a Primarch? Not to mention leaving the remaining Wolves to the Nobz, Horus or no, would not do. Clipped orders follow, further elaborating on Horus' own rather than trying to subvert him. Even Extro was not so far gone as to think he knew better than the soon-to-be Warmaster.

"Jendon, deal with Elymas' harasser. Aleph take over on slaying the enemy mender, I have been intercepted. Elymas..." Extrovious flies forth on both feet, pounding the ground towards the Savage with fist reared back. "Do not merely deny the witch. Kill it." Springing from stride into a lunge he launches into his first assault: a brutal swipe at both of the Ork's axes, intent on completely obliterating both the weapons and Nob's fists. Heavy handed opening proceeds into a strafing jump, brief lift from his assault pack seeing him to a safe distance that kept both Nob and freshly arrived Vitaly in view; duel be damned, if the Techmarine needed cover against anything then he would have it.

OOC: Balanced - Attack on Savage Nob, Defense on Self and Vitaly.
Orders:
Jendon engage the Saboteur
Aleph engage Dok Jewlz
Elymas engage and murder Zapper

@Jorimel
Jendon was suprised for a momment hearing orders from horus, Suddenly a warning came up over his diagnoster where he saw a warning on brother Aelph's Vitals a posion had entered his system, Unkown type had begun infecting him for a momment he felt heistant and wanted to aid his brother before he heard Extrovous voice give him a target as well as Aleph. He will survive Jendon take out the target before helping him, Jendon thought to himself.

"Yes Sirs." Jendon said before looking to Aelph. "Aelph That syringe device the Dok has if you bring him down I am gonna examine it and try to make a cure for the posion thats coursing through your System. Lets take out are targets Before It gets ya to banged up." Jendon said before raisng up his bolter hearing of another threat going after Elymas Jendon would roll into cover and locate Elymas and spot the target pursuing him. Slapping in a Fresh clip of dragon rounds he began laying down fire on the Sabouter aiming to take him out of the fight permantly either picking apart his limbs one by one before going for a vital or by blowing him to bits. If Jendon was fast enough he believed he could end the sabouters life then move on to Helping Aelph take down the Crude ork mender.

OOC All out attack, One attack on Sabouter, One attack on Dok Jewels If Sabouter is killed on first attack,IF not ALl out attack on Sabouter
Activate Plans within plans on attack on sabouter

Taking the Melta Bomb from Jendon, Pholax couldn't help but smile, "Oh the beautiful destruction I shall cause with these two." There was a bitterness to it, this weapon had seen him through some tough times and a weapon should be to a warrior as much as an arm or leg but all things must come to an end, and Pholax's time with this blessed blade were there as well, it was a fine weapon and it was fitting for a blade of the Eaters of Worlds to go out with a glorious kill.

After all, what other weapon could be said to have killed an Ork pretending to be a Primarch.

"Look after this if you can, or at least don't lose it." Pholax laid his autocannon in the cover and began moving up. "I will cause a distraction if you would be so kind as to press the attack, Extrovious." He voxed.

Grabbing the dead Terminator's Glaive in one hand and the axe in the other, there was no more time to waste, he did after all have a crazy idea of putting a Melta Bomb on his axe.

Saying a slight few words silently to his axe, Pholax placed the live charge onto his axe and began sprinting through what cover he could, sighting his target, Pholax revved the axe and launched it with all his might at the Ork, whatever armour this beast took, it'd tear it apart.

"For the Third Legion! For the Phoenican! Children of the Emperor! Death to his foes!" Pholax roared as he let fly with the axe.

Picking up the glaive now with both hands, it felt so much different to an axe. This was a completely alien weapon and required both hands to use effectively, but it was the Legion's iconic weaponry and he'd use it to the best of his ability, he'd make his fallen brother's weapon a boon that he'd not forget.

Finding some sort of cover that seemed acceptable enough, Pholax grabbed the bolt pistol maglocked to his thigh, the glaive in one arm and the pistol in the other, and prepared for whatever came his way in response for throwing such an improvised explosive at the largest Ork he'd ever seen.

And there was no doubt glory for the Third in taking such a beast's head.

OOC:
One action used to throw a melta bomb on a Chainaxe at Robork Gorkman.

One action used in defence on self.

Aleph felt the sting of poison in the wound, the tearing ache of it spreading unnaturally fast. It made him want to double over, clutching at his ravaged chest, but there was no time for such luxury. Already his two remaining lungs laboured, straining with his Astartes physiology as it worked to compensate for the injuries. But he was damned if he'd let himself show weakness before any Primarch, even his own. Especially his own. But the Phoenician wasn't here; no, it was Horus Lupercal who oversaw his sons, and would doubtless report on the Third. To fail him would be to bring dishonour upon his whole Legion, and that Alephoros could not do.

As a spasm of pain made his muscles twitch he rolled with the movement, stretching overworked sinews still more as he rose to the tips of his toes. No mere daemoniac spasming, however. Aleph shifted as he rode the wave of pain, bringing Night's Edge up into a vicious uppercut against the Greenskin's descending machinery. To fight was to dance, and he knew which steps he would take next.

"I will take it for you, Brother," he promised Jendon as he swept through the first of a flurry of blows, "right after I take this vile creature's head!" Leading off with a strike towards the Ork he did not forget the lesser stabbing menaces that sought to distract him, the crackling field of the power sword seeking to end their pestilent existence.

"For the Phoenician! Glory to the Third!"


OOC: Offensive stance: Aleph gains a bonus attack and -2 on all of his defensive rolls used in combination with All-Out attack. Subtlety is nice and all, but sometimes you absolutely have to resort to extreme violence.

getting back up after the massive heat just washed over him, instead of hitting him.
then he heard the given command, though Horus technically wasn't in command of the Emperors Children Denatus could not imagine not following his command, aiming his launcher upon the very big ork, it might be tough and armored in that special orky way, but fragmentaion nucklear warhead, would hurt pretty much anything.
though still cautius of the enermy heavy weapon teams, Denatus drew a bead on the big ork, before firering off.

OOC: balanced attack defence on Robork Gorkman

Coming to a sliding stop, Arnock raised back to his feet, allowing his sensors to readjust. There were much greater enemy champions on the field now, who's throats called out to Arnock's blade with deafening cries. Leonis' orders were only slightly louder than the other calls for death around him, and as such curbed Arnock's desire back to the large xeno that had evaded death for far to long. In fact, every breath it now took was in defiance of the third legion and an insult to all the Emperor's Children.

Arnock gave a quick nod to Leonis before slamming his clutched power sword handle to his chest. "Come xeno filth! Let me unleash upon you the perfect of the Third. Your cries of death shall be a foreshadowing sound to your brothers," Arnock yelled in challenge to the hammer wielding Orc. However, Arnock was not going to wait for the xeno to accept the challenge. So, the standard bearer of the Third charged forth once more looking to, at last, put down this now minor threat. In a quick flurry, Arnock would attempt to unleash pinpoint devastation upon the large xeno's vital points.

OOC: Legion's Champion: All Out Attack both attacks with power sword to neck Extra attack from Legion's Champion with power sword to chest at the heart.

With a practiced move, Jendon pulled out his custom bolter and loaded a fresh clip of dragonfire bolts into it, his helmet's diagnostic addon telling him of the injuries his Librarian friend suffered at the hands of the large Ork. Even now he was trying to pull away, following Lupercal's orders, but the Saboteur wasn't giving up so easily especially now when he was so close at slaying the psyker. Whatever hopes the alien had were blown away alongside its brain as the Apothecary's perfect aim saw to it - two bolts were enough for the Ork to drop dead, finally letting go of its stolen axe, the weapon still slick with psyker's blood.

Now matter how quick he was with his bolter, Jendon was yet to reach the speed some of the Legion's fighters have and he was slow to react at the Dok's attack coming from behind. Drilling into his upper back, improvised tool proved to be quite effective at punching through power armor and Jendon felt as it ravaged his body, left trapezoid nearly cut in two pieces alongside the better part of the bone. But Astartes physiology was superior in every way and the Apothecary was able to fight through the injury, turning about and unloading half of the clip into Dok Jewlz from close range, the dragonfire bolts punching through the Ork's hide and pushing him backwards, the superheated gas setting aflame alien's "power armor" and turning it from white to blackened grey.

His armor destroyed and his life ripe for the taking, Dok Jewlz had a hard time dealing with what came next. "Oi! Dat waz me loif-improva kit!" Ork roared in pain as Aleph dashed in, the powered blade in his hands coming down in an upward strike that caught the alien below his armpit and separated the limb from the rest of the body, the pneumatic drill falling down on the ground alongside Dok's arm. Gretchin helpers that ran all around the swordsman tried to pick the thing up and get it back to Jewlz while simultaneously attempting to stab at Aleph's heels, but the legionary made sure none of this transpired as he stomped them to bits, the smaller orkoid creatures too slow to evade his wrath.

Aleph was still poisoned and even though he felt the toxin overcoming his body's inner defensive mechanics, he still had much fighting in him left. He saw the Ork Apothecary rising the damned syringe pistol again but this time around Night's Edge came up and poisonous projectiles were caught midair, the mini explosions casting acidic mass all over the surviving Gretchin which melted at the first contact with the substance, their deathly screams adding to the overall choir of battle. "You'z kill'd me skrubz, you'z did me healin' drillz and you'z survived me spechul mix," Dok Jewlz spoke, his words aimed at Aleph as he tried to hit him with the butt of his pistol but Aleph dodged nimbly to the side, his power sword stabbing through the hole Jendon made with his shooting and bursting whatever the Ork had for spleen beneath it, "Wut are you'z? Some kind of a supa-startes?"

Less than five meters away from this, Arnock drove into the Nob leader and finally, he drew proper blood. Somewhat distracted by Lord Commander and his earlier attack, Big Hamma was too slow to react to Arnock's power sword coming up. Hammer was being brought up to deflect the attack but the move didn't help the alien as the Standard Bearer's weapon of choice flashed above it and struck into the already wounded part of creature's neck. He needed only one proper strike and he landed it like a true veteran - Nob's head was sent flying off onto the ground, falling near Leonis' boots, followed by the headless body.

"By Phoenician, that was a mighty blow," Leonis smiled as he knelt down and picked it up, after a second of observing the gruesome trophy he tossed it over to Arnock, "You have brought much honor to your squad and the Legion, Brother Arnock. We must talk after this siege is over - if we survive. If the battle continues developing this way, I will need warriors to replace the fallen brothers of my Honor Squad and a good sword-arm with the proper sense of honor is hard to find these days." If he wanted to say anything more the intent was cut short as Lord Commander's face twisted into a snarl, his eyes following one of the Arnock's squad brothers on a straight path into the jaws of death.

Ignoring Horus' advice, Pholax turned for some quite unorthodox approach. Thankfully, neither Sidon nor Vyre, the World Eater comrade who gave him his chainaxe, were there to witness what happened to the gladiator's weapon as the melta bomb was primed and ready to go off. What happened is that it did go off, albeit prematurely. Only mere seconds as the Devastator threw the improvised explosive devise did the it trigger, the sudden and somewhat unexpected blast right in front of his eyes momentarily blinded him, the helmet's optics struggling to compensate. Vision was returned mere moments later, just in time for Pholax to see the devastation he caused - and the ultimate result of his action.

Blast took out major potion of the floor alongside burning couple of Nob corpses to ash but in the end, it desired the needed effect. What was even worse, enemy leader saw Pholax's move and advanced towards him to intercept him. Rokork Gorkman was a monstrous creature, encased in the best armor Ork could buy, which made him somewhat slow but this lack of speed was the thing that saved him. He completely evaded the melta blast and was on top of Pholax before the Devastator could recover. "Your aktionz are in voulatioun of Cook Book'z sekund rule, paragruph 'un," Robork grunted as he swooped the Devastator up in the air, grabbing him in place with one and placing the other oversize fist on his left shoulder. "Melee weapuns are fer hittin gitz in melee, not fer throwin'!"

Looking genuinely angry at Pholax's breaking of his code, Robork pulled his hand away and with it, came Pholax's arm. Spray of blood followed the almost casual show of strength as the leader of the Ultra Orks crippled the Devastator, the other hand squeezing him so tight that the power armor began to break and buckle. The only thing that saved Pholax from being crushed to death was timely assistance of Denatus, Leonis and one of the Terminators.

Destroyer's frag missile hit the Primork in the back and growled in pain as the warhead found the weaker part of his armor and drove two dozen shards into his body. Gorkman was hurting now and he tossed Pholax away like some discarded toy, the Devastator hitting the ground hard couple of feet away, turning to face the new assailant. Liek before when he wanted to kill their Techmarine, the huge Ork brought up his fists and opened fire with inbuilt shootas, this time the deadly payload looking to find Denatus. Alas, the Destroyer was prepared for it and he changed positions even before the Ork fired, the alien hitting nothing but thin air.

He also saw that one of the Devastata Nobs brought up his plasma cannon up, aiming in his direction and wanting to exploit the situation while the frontline warriors were tied up in melee, intent to follow the rules set by his leader. Too bad maintenance of his weapon was close to abysmal as the cannon blew up the moment he squeezed the trigger, taking the upper part of Nob's body in a glorious explosion of white-heat plasma. Robork on the other hand, had no time or sense to worry about this as he was attack by two more Emperor's Children, both Lord Commander and one of his guards, who before it managed to execute the final Nob from the original force by slicing him in half with his power glaive.

Leonis moved like a snake, his artifact sword a weapon from Terra's ancient past brought to life by Legion's artificers. It was an extensions of his body and Leonis used it to full extent as he brought it around in slicing arc that ripped through Ork's armor despite its value, proving that the good Imperial steel was better than anything aliens had to offer. Alien leader attempted to retaliate and the power fist came cracking down, but the Lord Commander was rolling away, at the same time Robork annihilated pieces of concrete beneath him so did he earn a blow that sliced off his ear. While Captain Cautorious was the head of Third Millennial's Palatine Blades and was considered by many the most skilled fighter in this part of the Emperor's Children, Leonis was close second. Maybe he was unable to vent his anger on the leader of the Third in Ullanor, but the Greenskin monster did so on the Terminator veteran behind him. Power glaive stabbed him in the side but the weapon got locked in as the alien grabbed it shaft with his hand, despite the strength given to him by the tactical dreadnought armor the Third Legion's veteran was still weaker than the opponent in front of him and was unable to move in time before the power fist punched him in the face and obliterated his skull.

Elymas was aware of all this death as he ran through the hail of bullets, the Taktikul Gits which gathered behind their leader reloaded their weapons and were about to make the Audiomancer's life even more miserable. However only couple of shots hit the mark, all of them clanging against his armor and exploding outside, before Luna Wolves finally rallied behind and started doing proper damage to the Orkstartes. One by one the Greenskins fell and their numbers were soon cut in half after suffering from the real Adeptus Astartes and their organized fire, not to mention that the last surviving Emperor's Children Terminator also opened fire on them, his storm bolter raking up kill after kill.

This allowed Elymas to cross the distance and engage the alien "Librarian" in melee, without any foreign interference. Tigrikus sensed the approach of another psyker and as he turned his beady eyes on him, the words were drilled into Elymas' mind as if hammered by a crude weapon. "You are weak little bird. I will snuff out your fire and once your broken body lies beneath my feet, I will do the same to the rest of your kin." Anger seeped out of every Weirdboy's pore, both physically and metaphysically, as his psychic signature turned into an amalgam of Greenskin latent psychic force given form. It was nothing Elymas had seen before, only a pure and untamable tide of primal fury breaking free.

There was no control, no method to alien's power and ultimately, it proved to be his undoing. Lightning bolts lashed out above Tigrikus' head as he tried to harness the might of his race and summon a wave of psychic energy that would annihilate Elymas. Even before he could form a ball of green death, the spell went wrong and instead outwards, the energy washed all over the Weirdboy and he was suddenly set ablaze, engulfed in psychic fire. Phoenix's Resolve seemed to cut through this with an ease of its creator cutting metal and it almost guided Elymas as he smashed it into Da Zapper's chest. Audiomancer wasn't able to instantly slay his foe due to his mental fortitude still allowing the better part of his spirit from keeping anchor and the body defiantly refused to give in, but as the Greenskin was thrown off his feet and turned into a bloody mess, Elymas felt that the tides were turning.

All this left with Vitaly and Extrovious dealing with the enemy on the lowest level of this area. Techmarine quickly interfaced with the wounded machine and its spirit while simultaneously using its thick hide as cover against one particular Devastata Nob who placed his heavy bolter on the railing above and started spraying all over the field. His aim was as good as you would suspect and majority of the shells were stopped by the Land Raider's armor, despite its damage on some places it was still intact and heavy bolter or its Ork equivalent was simply inadequate to deal with such mechanical beast.

Outside obvious external damage in form of most of its armor either being completely destroyed or stripped to make room for Ork-grade improvements, its hatch-mounted bolter being blown away by Denatus' earlier shot alongside residual radiation spikes that Vitaly registered on his sensors and one of its tracks in need of quick repair so the vehicle could move properly again, Land Raider's Machine Spirit was perhaps surprisingly still intact. It was violated by the Greenskin mechanics and it cocooned itself in its backup programs, the Orks never really able to put every system to use as an Astartes would which meant that once Vitaly was there, he was able to reignite it without much issues, in fact it was quite the opposite.

++Legiones Astartes Omnissiah servant identified. "Herald of Espandor" awakens. What is your will?++

While Vitaly worked on preparing Land Raider for usage in proper means once again, Extrovious was focused on dealing with the leader of the Savages. Horus had no more orders to give and young Sergeant saw the Primarch charging into the mob of Greenskins, true to his word he provided ample of cover for both him and their Techmarine to work. These particular Orks were crazed enough to launch themselves freely into the Lord of the Luna Wolves and he responded in kind - both of his lightning claws, one archaic weapon with inbuilt combi weapon and another with a flamer, made short work of the Greenskins as their wielder ripped all of them apart without breaking a sweat.

Lesser Orks busied themselves with dying while their leader met Extrovious head on. Legionary threw a punch that never connected as the Nob pulled aside and whipped his axe around, smashing Extro straight into the symbol of the Emperor's Children on his shoulder. It split in two and as he attempted to pull free with his jump pack, Berzerker Nob slammed the other axe into his side and spun him in place, the flight cut short as Extrovious was thrown rolling on the ground, almost losing the hold on his sidearm. One of Ork's axe was still stuck slightly below his ribs and it was even more lodged in after the crash, but its owner was adamant at wanting it back as the Greenskin growled in anger, charging at Extrovious and jumping at him, his sole axe high overhead and poised to split Sergeant's head in two.


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

Middle Floor:
- Nobz:10
- Leonis:24, Terminators:12, Luna Wolves:10
- Pholax:7 Denatus:12, Elymas:10, Arnock:9, Aleph:9 (poisoned, 2T), Jendon:12 (PwP active against Dok Jewlz)

Orkstartes Reinforcements: Robork Gorkman:22 Dok Jewlz:9 Tigrikus Da Zapper:11 Taktikul Gits:6 Devastata Nobs: 9(HB)

Bottom Floor:
- Berzerker Nob:9
- Luna Wolves:3, Horus Lupercal:150
- Extrovious:8, Vitaly:13, "Herald of Espandor":[7]

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. Due to its advanced targeting systems, attacks from the Land Raider are ignoring this negative modifier. As long as Horus is around, Tides of War cannot fall beneath certain threshold. Elymas has lost his right eye. Aleph is under effect of debilitating poison and will suffer increasing debuffs on all of his rolls as long as the poison is up. Jendon needs to pass a successful healing test to remove it. Pholax has lost his left arm. "Herald of Espandor" has 2 attacks and is armed with a heavy bolter and 2 twin-linked lascannons.

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