@Vulpas

"All of my wounds have healed Yara, but I may have access to something you could have use for." Aesra may not be injured now, but it was always good to have favors owed by a haemonculus in the event of an unfortunate accident. "Namely the venom of a Helspider. I'm sure you could find many uses for it. Torture, weaponization, maybe even genetic modification. The list is truly endless." Pouring himself another glass, swirling the dark liquor in it before throwing it back, and slamming the glass on the table. "Think of it as..... early payment for 'future' requests." He a had a grin on his face once more, what sane haemonculus could turn down 'free' materials.

<Thû>

"M'lord Zar'uil's terms are fair. Thû accepts with gratitude, and drinks to M'lord's health," replies the Mandrake, raising his cup to the Archon, "Upon the shadows of Aelindrach, Thû pledges himself to your service till your task is done, or you release him. May the dread sword of Kheradruakh fall upon my neck if I fail. Long may you reign, in power and wealth."

His ears prick up, hearing the entry of Kouron and the new arrival before they clear the doors to the throne room.

"By your leave - Thû shall be about his duties as a courtier, then," he says to Zar'uil.

Rising from his chair with a bow, he blends into the shadows of the wall off to one side, just sufficient to be perceived as a vague, tenebrous presence as he studies the newcomer - a male Wych, a comparative rarity - building, as is his habit, a dossier in his head to flesh out the new arrival.

<Mission 2 Briefing - Realspace Raid> @Vulpas @Kalle @Grall_Stonefist @Virgil_Corbec @Draconion @Maleth @bossaroo @kanila @Jorimel @Wata + @Casavay

OOC @Jorimel this is happening right after Keshariel's talk with Zar'uil so your Wych is attending the briefing as well.

Eventually, every member of the team received summons - the Archon was ready to hold a war council for the upcoming raid, which meant that the rumors circumventing for the last couple of days were true and the Kabal was going to war. Not only did the members of the team received their orders, but almost every other ranking Dark Eldar in the Kabal did as well, so like a big flood they entered the spire, everyone eager for the promise of glory and conquest.

The council was being held in the main throne room, in which for this occasion the servants built a giant war table with the working holo-display, map and screens showing various statistical data and other types of feeds they needed to read. Standing head above all was Archon himself, his robes changed for a set of ghostplate armor of an older design, the interlocking plates painted in deep red creating an illusion of him bathing in blood while an ornate helmet was safely tucked underneath his arm, the faceplate painted in silver with the visage of a snarling daemon.

At his sides everyone saw familiar shapes of his Incubi bodyguard, Seneschal Kouron and Blood Queen Lyn'shela, all of them looking serious, even the beautiful Succubus dropped her customary bored look for a more focused one of a large predator preparing to pounce on its prey. There was also that familiar low-pitched growl in the background where most could see a curled ball of blackness and yellow eyes where Archon's otherworldly hound was resting.

--------------------------------------

"I see that everyone is here, so let's get down to business," Zar'uil's voice was easily carried over the crowd which grew silent as their Archon began to lay out the plan. He was also assisted by Kouron who manipulated the device inside the war table, bringing up images as the Archon talked. First, they saw a green-shaped ball, "You are looking at the planet Icirius within the system Cirillo, quite an unimportant place even in the old days, when the planet was used as a private summer residence of some long dead lordling. It carried its dullness even to the present and was considered utterly irrelevant until the recent change of events in the sector."

"Being located somewhat close to the Maelstorm and some important travel routes that went around it, it was also one of the traveling stops for the invasion the Tau conducted on the Mon'keigh homeworld of Terra, or more precisely attempted to before they were driven back. All of that was of less value to us, but what is important is that during their retreat, the surviving invasion forces were repeatedly harried by various factions, mostly Imperial, however their weakness was also exploited by some of the Chaos marauders living nearby who attacked the retreating fleet looking for something to loot. After one of the many attacks and after suffering significant damage, one of the main ships in the fleet crashed on the planet of Icirius, with everyone on it considered dead."

"The remaining Tau didn't have the time or the luxury of stopping by to confirm the destruction of their friends which turned out to be a huge misplace in judgement as some of those aboard the fallen ship survived the crash but were left stranded thousands of light years away from their homeland."

"In the past couple of years those stricken survivors, using the tenacity that slave-race is supposedly famed for, began repairing their tech, rebuilding the surroundings and changing them to their liking, as well as repopulating or so I was told. The world itself was basically a huge jungle and the Tau cleared some parts of it to suit their needs while also keeping a low profile in case somebody discovers them before they get the chance to send a signal to the Empire so they could send someone over to pick them up. Or even send some materials and reinforce them for a Tau-held world so deep in Segmentum Ultima could be a major staging area for their future conquests. So on and so forth."

"Sadly, none of this will happen for I have learned of their existence before anyone else, making them a perfect target for the Crimson Moon. Isolated from the rest of their worlds, yet with enough resources to sustain themselves, they are like a ripe fruit just begging to be picked up and devoured. So here's the deal."

"We shall use the old gate located close to the south pole and advance from there. Scouts have reported that the Tau have been using the crash site of their ship as a main hub, spreading out from there, creating multiple habitable areas, Kroot breeding grounds, defensive perimeters and so on. I personally will lead the main force of the Kabal and we shall descend upon those outlying breeding grounds, catching most of the Kroot aliens in few fel swoops for they are the most prized items in this entire place."

"Secondary objective is this," the map zoomed on a small mountain region rising from the jungle where they could see couple of tiny buildings, "This is their forward communication center from which their main base communicates with every outlying settlement or military outpost. Destroying it will blind them and make pretty much everyone except for the Tau inside the main compound susceptible to our attacks."

"Tertiary objective is this," the map once again zoomed in, this time onto a series of half-hidden buildings in the middle of a jungle, "the blue aliens have built a series of defensive emplacements all around their main base but due to their limited resources, all of those are connected into the same power grid. The center of that grid, or you can say a main generator, is located here. It is well defended and multiple defensive emplacements are guarding the approach to it, however I believe a swift force can overwhelm the unsuspecting defenders, break through and sabotage the generator before anyone knew what was happening, thus completely numbing their defensive capabilities and paving the way for the rest to reach the main base unmolested."

"Honor of leading the charge on both of the secondary and tertiary objectives will fall to my newest lieutenant cadre," Archon said, pointing at the group of teammates, "I have an idea on how to divide you, but I'm interested in hearing your own approach to this plan."

OOC alright, there are two objectives you need to tackle, feel free to pick them for yourself and state where you want to go, as well as who do you think should lead each "team"\part of the force. I could've done it myself and maybe it has more sense IC-wise coz we are DE, but I didn't want to force you to do something you don't want to so you are free to chose your own "poison" Each of the forces will receive some NPCs as "cannon fodder" so you won't be going alone

Secondary objective - Communications center:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Tertiary objective - Generator:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Aesra grinned under his helmet, fully suited since his 'ink session' had ended. A Razorwing perched on each shoulder, he stepped forward setting himself apart from the others. He had left his skyboard back at the 'zoo', it was a symbol of his status but he was not foolish enough to stand on a higher platform than the Archon. Aesra would not let this opportunity pass him by to further his own personal position. "I will lead the advance on the Tertiary Objective Archon Zar'uil. Perhaps the jungles hold some secrets that we can use to 'amplify' our strengths."

Aesra didn't even glance back to see if the others would protest. He didn't care even if they did, he knew he was the best pick for this assault. He continued without giving the others a chance to reply. "Archon Zar'uil what will the local time be for this raid? And what forces will I have at my disposal? If we are to swoop in fast, hellions, Vipers, and Raiders with a mix of wyches and kabalites should make short work of their generators." Aesra mentally made notes of the location as well as the Primary objective. Once the generators fell they could use the Raiders to quickly reinforce the Main effort.

<Thû>

Standing amidst the Archon's inner circle at the briefing, Thû has doffed his courtly robes for his campaign best - Kabalite webbing holding a series of pouches and pockets for gear, along with his battered pack, all going over the well-worn loincloth so typical of his kind. He does, however, retain his mask for the moment.

When Aesra speaks up, Thû lets him have his say before speaking up.

"I will go with Aesra," he says, his courtly politesse replaced by no-nonsense professionalism as he addresses the table, "I can do my best work in those jungles. I will ride in with any fast attack units going with us, then make drop under cover of their assault as close to the target as possible. While they occupy and distract the defenders, I will get that generator down and then take out their on-site command cadre."

@Colapse

Turning to Zar'uil, he adds, "A question, Lord - what do we know of their primary command cadre? Have any key figures been spotted? Is there any indication where any such might be based? If so, I may be best employed in a high-level decapitation strike immediately following the suppression strike, and will hence require rapid redeployment options."

Falling silent as he awaits replies to his words, Thû reflects upon his past experiences with the Tau. He remembers encountering them while travelling the galaxy as part of a mon'keigh Rogue Trader's retinue once, a long time ago. While all said encounters were strictly peaceful, he remembers being highly amused by their optimistic and more-than-slightly arrogant naivete, and pitying them the day they learned the truth of life in the galaxy. He remembers also occupying himself with the contents of the Rogue Trader's library, indulging his childlike curiosity about the blue-skinned alien race, making notes in a battered old notebook about the unlikely nature of their survival and evolution as a species, and particularly the convenient deus ex machina of a mysterious tribe, perfectly adapted to rule the entire species, appearing just in time to prevent all of Taudom from immolating itself in violent tribal warfare.

This raid sounded good, they where to hit a target that made a deal out of trying to go unoticed, their defences and communication could be taken down in one fell swoop, and Hetax had never been in a raid set upon the Tau before, though as tantalizing it sounded to try something new, he had heard that their souls where meek and their bodies weak, not much life could be drained out of them, though their own slave creatures where alot more interesting. Hetax was yet to become very tactically minded on a raid scale, to move around the workings of Commoragh in his altered form was something not easy to learn first, so instead he would allow the archon to decide, it was not for him to decide his marks, he was paid hunter and those that paid him knew where they wanted one with his skills.
"Archon you are best suited to decide my place in this raid" he said with a courteous nod of his haed.

@kanila @Maleth -Before briefing Pleasure bar
"Sounds like quite a deal beast masters, and I am in quite a potion to accept, Interesting Helspiders are there Venom will be quite useful in spinning more dangerous Variety of animals, If you do need something you can ask, I think I can even Whip up a few new creatures for you as well." Yrara said to the beast master a smile upon his face.


-Briefing
Yrara kept his grin upon entering the Briefing room, As he saw the missions objectives and heard the briefing he began to get a good idea of what to join in the objectives ideas and plans and schemes entered his mind along with the possibility of this new tau race and these kroot would bring into his experiments. Yrara had quite interesting storys about the kroots ability to adapt from what they eat, Maybe he could force feed them things for interesting resulting experiments. Yrara's eye going to the Communication tower he already in plan on who to aid, whos on skills and some deception tricks on the cabals part they could take the communication building and lay more traps and confuse the defenders to make them even weaker pray then they already are. "I Shall join the team heading to the communications array me and my creations can make quite a interesting battle even better with a few new tricks." Yrara said Volunteering for the secondary objective.

As Heltherith listened to the briefing, despite being somewhat put out by the lacklustre results of her personal investigations (perhaps by asking the wrong people the wrong questions), she was hopeful that this time she'd have more luck with a successful mission. Considering that the Mandrake was going with Aesra, that left her open to deal with the secondary objective without perhaps having to deal with the Mandrake deciding to go his own way on the issue of tactics.

And with their foe being the Tau, Mertrixa was secretively glad that the Haemonculus was also saying he was willing to go for the communication centre as if they had whatever they had created with them, they might help her close the distance with her foes without the Wych gaining undue injuries in the process.
So she said "I'll be willing to spearhead the attack upon their communications. All I'll need to know is what forces I'd have at my disposal for the task at hand."

Ave'ras listened as a few of his cohorts volunteered to go to the comms hub and he nodded before standing " The comms hub team will need some fire support from the sound of it. I volunteer to join them so as to further secure victory over the comms hub"with both he and Thû taking each mission the Archon's wish may be satisfied "though i do suggest we take measures for stealth to prevent any risks of alarm raising" with his obligation completed he returned to his place. Once doing so he sent a look to Aerith with a smile and nod 'like old times' he thought ,a reminiscent smile crossing his face before he returned his attention to the Archon's breifing

<before>
The Archon before him was an impressive figure, in part because he hid his age well enough to put on exactly the face he chose. As an arena performer, Keshariel could respect that. Except for the eyes, of course. But then, that was probably intentional. The Wych took in the surroundings with a practised eye, but he did not waste too much time on trying to assess the defences. Keshariel was of a mind that an Archon in Zar'uil's position was able to defend himself by a number of means, effectively, or he wouldn't be a very good employment prospect or have risen to where he was. In any case he was looking for employment and diversion, not a suicidal assassination attempt.

Hearing the newcomer, the man waved him over, his gaze still focused on the book in front of him. "Tell me," he suddenly spoke, his tone conversational, even friendly, "Are you familiar with the work of Ivor Elitibad and his treatise on the Curse of the Black Sun?"

Keshariel nodded. In his pursuit of Wych-craft he had devoted himself to martial excellence, but a honed mind is an educated mind. The haughty Trueborn did not believe in fitting the stereotype of 'pretty, but dim' some of his competitors would assign to him. Though, he had to admit that he had not finished all of the writer's longer works. There were just so many demands on his time and attention.

"Indeed, Archon, I know the treatise - one of his finer works; untouched by the overt cynicism of his later oeuvres, yet past the naievete of his earliest writings. I find his suggestion that the fluid dynamics of combat represent a musical score for the destruction of the universe to be an intriguing one - the percussion of the Orks, the bass notes of the Humans, the grace notes of our tradition-bound kin. And of course, our own kind, the lead, the primadonna." The Wych added this last without irony. "We are at once the musicians and, unique of all the performers, aware of our place in the music and able to direct its creation."

"What did you think of the conceit?"

If this Ynneas Eladrith was an intellectual, then his employ promised more than martial stimulation, which was all to the good. And if he wasn't - well, then at least he ought to have a diverting line in educated concubines.


<now>

Keshariel paid close attention to the maps and deployment zones. Focussed now that combat was in the immediate future, the Wych took in the detail and watched as the others chose their places or staked their claims.

"Swift and devastating force will be needed for both objectives," he said decisively. "I will join the assault on the communications centre. Let us isolate them within the tomb of their own complacence. An enemy cannot scream for help without a tongue."

Keshariel took a step back and looked around at those who would fight alongside him. A Mandrake? That would explain the chill in the air. One of the frost-weavers was an unusual sight in company. In fact, one of them was an unusual sight at all if it wasn't one's last.