Seeing the field of slaughter before them that was once a courtyard, Aesra observed what was happening. It seemed the Wych Zalaya's troops were in a tight pinch here and vastly outnumbered. This would not do, not if their plans were to fall into place. A wicked grin formed under his mask as a plan began to unfold in his mind. They had the benefit of surprise, and he would use it to its fullest. By the end of this the wych would owe them for their 'timely' intervention! Sweeping wide to the right around the two forces Aesra checked his plasma grenades before getting in range to strike. Aesra moved in from the right flank tossing both of his plasma grenades into the grotesque squad moving forward from the rear to crush the wych's troops. At the same time the Razorwings swooped down in pairs to lift two of the wracks into the sky in order to send them plummeting back down towards the ground. If this all happened according to plan it would give the defenders a chance to counter attack the haemonculus' forces.
<Thû> [OOC: @Colapse, so far, I think no one is following Thû, so he's running this one solo.] Taking a moment to observe the aftermath of battle before him, Thû gives the bloodied but still very much-alive and capable warriors a wide berth, taking a detour to get to the far side wall closest to the Dracon's spire.
Kaesar ventured into the Dracon's territory, klaive in hand and ready for whatever scenario. Eventually he reached the corpses and the group of kabalites, he observed them from a distance. Slowly, a smile crept to he's face. He turned to Venessia, winked and revealed himself. "Looks like you lot had fun here. Shame I missed the fun." He said with a grin, stepping over corpses and looking at a few well mutilated ones, hand on he's belt next to the grenades he took, just in case violence ensues. "Now, which of the three holds your leash? We're looking for...employment."
<Dracon Uril's territory> @Draconion @Wata Venessia @Wata Venessia said nothing and followed in Kaesar's lead, holding her punisher at the ready in case things go sour. On the other hand, the moment the Incubi arrived the Kabalites jumped at attention and aimed their weapons at the newcomers, but they didn't fire which was definitely a positive thing. "You are not around here, are you?" Sybarite was the one who replied first, his power sword in his hands but held in defensive stance. "Quite fortunate a two of your caste arriving here during such conflict, but I guess stranger things happened that brought more mercenaries..." "We are in the service of the one true master of Kabal of the Severed Hope, Lord Uril. Lay down your arms and come with us, we shall bring you to his court. I'm sure he won't miss an opportunity to hire more of your kind." It was perhaps a perfect response but then again, Sybarite obviously gambled that even if Kaesar and Venessia came here with another ulterior motive, surrounded by a small army would prove bad for their health. Venessia on the other hand simply shrugged and inclined her helm towards Kaesar, awaiting for his response. @Draconion Thû on the other side, completely evaded this party and thus was unable to see what transpired with his teammates. The Mandrake skulked around the ruins, using his unnatural skill to move unseen and cover the ground fast. He passed couple of similar smaller battlegrounds, but in most cases he only encountered dead bodies littering the ground, being of a wide variety from Kabalite warriors to mutated wracks. In any case, he eventually reached the far side of the spire, where he managed to climb on top of yet another ruined hangar, allowing him to scan the spire's surroundings. The ground around it was filled with barricades crisscrossed with hidden pitfalls and other types of nasty traps. Multitude of Kabalites manned the defenses around the place, reinforced by a number of stationary turrets that were either automated or even manned by the Dark Eldar. There were also three Raiders floating close to the ground, ready to rise up at the moments notice. Spire's entrance was guarded by a score of warriors led by an Incubus with paired demiklaives while, despite the spire being almost twice smaller than Zar'uil's spire, a number of Scourges were clinging onto it from above, acting as vultures and ready to pounce the moment they saw their prey. All in all, in didn't look like a perfect place to infiltrate especially since the troops were obviously on high alert and the only entrance he saw was the main one. But then again, he was running out of options given the fact the Dracon he was looking for was holed up inside it and his task was clinging on the fact him getting to Uril alive.
@Maleth @Vulpas Once more, the not-yet Kabalite in her not-yet-proper colours shrugged, only glancing at the Haemonculus briefly before giving an affirmative "Mh-hm" to the Wych who'd taken charge. Oh, Surion despised following orders, and being subject to anyone, yes. But she also knew that on the field of battle, she was essentially nothing more than a tourist - right now, she wanted to survive and prove her worth primarily. If that meant to obey, Surion would. Not to mention that she aspired to being a master of arms off, not upon the battlefield. "Well then, the artists will take care of this. Won't we, Paincrafter?", swordcrafter asked the fellow artisan she had been assigned to.
Kaesar sheathed he's sword in one smooth efficient motion, still keeping a hand on it's hilt. He smiled without a care in the world. "Well? Let's go see this Lord of yours." Hopefully the mandrake was true to he's word. This is one major of a gamble if he is left on he's own when Crimson Moon gets mentioned.
<Thû> Perched atop the derelict hangar roof, Thû surveys the outer defences of the spire. Taking the time to memorise troop movement patterns, he begins formulating a plan of ingress. Before setting out, he sub-vocalises into his communicator unit on a private channel with Kaesar, letting the silent vibrations of his throat create the words. @Wata "Effecting entry now. Will signal when in position. Out." Climbing stealthily down to ground level along the shadowed side of the hangar, he hops into a shadow adjoining a troop patrol route to wait. Ultimately, all shadows were reflections of and gateways to the One True Shadow. When brought into close enough proximity to one another, they would begin to remember this fact, and he would be able to instantaneously transit from one to another. In this fashion, hopping from shadow to shadow as they pass close to one another, he aims to make his way steadily closer to the gates. Once within striking distance of the gate guardians themselves, he aims to hide in their shadows, there awaiting the shadows of those passing within to complete his infiltration into the spire itself.
<Dracon Uril's Spire> @Wata @Draconion @Wata Sybarite nodded and although the rest of Kabalites still held their guns at the ready, their stance was somewhat relaxed. After all, Kaesar already stated his attentions and Incubi weren't known for breaking promises. They waited here couple of more minutes before the Raider transport was repaired and all of them boarded it before it flew into air and set its course towards the spire in the distance. They arrived there fifteen minutes later and both Kaesar and Venessia could see many troops defending the place from below, scores of Kabalite warriors as well as their tech were located all around the base of the spire while flocks of Scourges were perched on its walls, mimicking stone guardians of old. Raider docked in a slot further up the spire and both Incubi were escorted from the transport and into the place, passing through couple of doors before reaching the main chamber. The chamber itself wasn't as lavish or aristocratic as the chambers of Archon Zar'uil were, they were crossed with marks of stray splinter fire as well as smears from explosions, meaning that Dracon Uril obviously had to fight other pretenders for the throne before reaching out on the top. Currently, they could see him sitting on a small throne surrounded by three Incubi bodyguards (all carrying klaives) as well as six Scourges, all armed with shard carabines. Them, plus eleven Kabalites escorting Kaesar and Venessia made the number of their possible enemies (or allies) reach twenty one. Dracon Uril himself was armored in less ornamented version of ghostplate - quite usual for a Dracon - and he was carrying a blast pistol paired with a venom blade of stock design. He was also looking somewhat young and had that rogueish grin playing around his lips as he scanned the newcomers. All in all, he didn't look terribly forbidding like some of the Dark Eldar lords do, but then again he was yet to climb those ranks so perhaps that was the reason. In any case, he allowed Kaesar and Venessia to approach before rising up and speaking to them. "So, who sent you? How much did my enemies pay you to come here and try to take my head, hm?!?" apparently, he went straight to the point. "I haven't sent out a call to get more of your kind here so the only way you would've learned of this conflict and came here is treachery! But I will allow you to speak your case, just so you can see that I am an honorable Archon and that my word is sacred!" And just like that, every gun in the room was now pointed at Kaesar and Venessia. @Draconion Thû on the other hand, spotted the Raider docking further up the spire down from his position within the shadows, his eyes spotting familiar figures of his teammates aboard, following them up until the moment they entered the spire itself and were lost from his sight. In any case, he had a serious task to preform now, so he fully concentrated on infiltrating the place himself. That task turned out to be easy for him as his movement through many shadows proved to be quite successful (OOC crit roll haha), between moving around and through the debris as well as stalking shadows created by patrolling kabalites, Thû managed to get inside the spire without much effort. Not to mention, the place also lacked warding like he encountered in Crimson Moon's main spire, so if what Zar'uil told them was true and that the entirety of this tier used to belong to one Kabal back in the day, this area must've been some sort of ultra-low importance fort, perhaps a place where they stashed their cleaning equipment? In any case, moving up the stairs he reached the throne room just in time to hear "Archon" Uril's question aimed towards Kaesar and Venessia. So far, the Mandrake kept to the shadows and was unseen by the defenders, however the center of room where Uril and his men were standing was well-lit, not to mention the man he was after was surrounded by his Incubi bodyguards, so getting into sword range will definitely prove to be quite challenging. OOC possible enemies: - Uril (boss) - 3 Incubi (elite) - 6 Scourges (veterans) - 1 Sybarite (veteran) - 10 Kabalite warriors
With the Beastmaster making his move, Heltherith gritted her teeth. She hadn't expected this level of numbers from the Haemonculus but perhaps that was a testament to the skill of Zalaya's troops to warrant such overwhelming numbers. Naturally, with plasma grenades heading towards the Grotesque she didn't consider it wise to get within melee range as it would put her within the danger zone of those fun little devices and her idea of fun didn't involve having to fix herself up due to an ill-timed charge into battle. So Mertrixa stray on the edges of the fray with the Wracks and Zalaya's forces, tossing two of her plasma grenades at the horde of Wracks to help even the odds. Then she drew her Splinter pistol and fired it at the Wracks, keeping her distance until the grenades had done their job and she could then close in for the kill in melee: Just how it should be done.
