Taking 2 haywire, and a plamsa grenade from the armory before leaving Yrara was quite content with grabbing several surviving previous wracks from the previous mission, and a few support wracks as well, Making sure he had the animal DNA and that Earth caste leader awaiting on his lab table when he returned he went off with a smile as was usual for him.

As they reached the Planet of Kelih the Hamonculus took in the refreshing and biting cold once again. "Ahhh feels like older times when I was but a learner." Yrara said as he took in the cold with nostalgia, Deciding to head with there Wych Heltherith Yrara followed suit with several wracks deciding to not leave one of there own alone and possibly miss out on any fun with small the smaller groups. As they made there way to the signal Yrara was delighted by the change of scenery for once taking back and keeping a eye on it all saving it in his memory as he looked around. Could use a few changes maybe some more flora and fuana life more dangerous creatures and things thriving about.

As he spotted the mon'keigh with there quite ugly machine he also made note of how useful more dangerous creatures would be in guarding this place. Spotting the odd crystals that were being sucked up Yrara was semi interested in taking a few to study to see what property they had, making note in the back of his mind to grab a few before leaving.

@Maleth "Well, well it seems our romantic stroll has been ruined by the Mon'keigh quite disappointing so how do you wan't to handle this? Maybe walk up there and tell them how displeased we are and be all sneaky like with one of us going to hit them from behind, or maybe announce ourselves and descend upon them in combat? or maybe a verbal and stern talking to?" Yrara said with a bit of a chuckle. "Or do you have a plan of your own cooking up to handle these mon'keigh and there quite primitive and I must say ugly machines." Yrara ask Helerith looking to her himself waiting for a response from her as he seemed to be waiting for what she had to say before acting.

@bossaroo @Colapse

"No to worry, old boy. I'll be quick about it, either way," replies Thû, "Get into position, but wait for my signal before engaging."

With that, he fades from view like a bad dream. His shifting skin and semi-corporeal form aiding him in ghosting his way through the snow and forest shadows, past the Skitarii lines to reach the Chimera. Once there, the merest flex of his unnatural mind causes him to turn into an intangible shadow, passing through the armoured hull to grant him access within.

<Outpost>

As the outpost loomed ever closer Aesra manned one of the specially added weapons to their Raider. "Hit them hard, hit them fast!" As the incubus descended on their foes Aesra rained deadly shards down on the combat servitors. No yells of pain or surprise. They merely turned to face their deaths and react. All in all very disappointing for the Dark Eldar. Aesra's initial solvo laid 3 of the combat servitors down before he cleared the side of the Raider to engage in direct contact.

On the ground the snow seemed to have no effect on Aesra or his beasts as they tore into the nearby combat servitors. The Razorwings working in tandem to peck away the still mon'keigh flesh of one while the Helspider shredded another with its legs. Nimbly Aesra danced around one that swung a brutish chain sword. He shook his head as he continued to move out of the way as the swings roared towards him, atleast his cousins could make something deadly and quiet unlike these abominations. Sick of the game, that derived no joy from the soulless machine, Aesra lashed out with his whip which latched into the combat servitor's neck. Giving it a sharp pull it spun the soulless thing around snapping its neck in the process.

(6 combat servitors dead)

<Outpost>

The Incubus wasted little time in jumping over the side of the Raider and charging towards the outpost - one such servitor had turned to her too little too late and was impaled in its midsection and thrown into another, her splinter pistol brought up to open fire - she made sure to keep an eye out for what red-robed figures there were on the field, her shots focused upon them.
Her adrenaline was getting the better of her when she brought the halberd up and bashed another Servitor's skull in, the bone crumbling and the machinery within cracking and short-circuiting.

Now that the full attention was brought on her, Venessia holstered her splinter-pistol and used her weapon with both hands, whirling around and crushing another of the automatons beneath her boot after slamming it into the ground; she wasn't reckless however. She knew that she and Kaesar would need to work together, and she rushed over towards him and into cover.

(4 Servitors dead - attempting to shoot at Skitarii with splinter-pistol)

Outpost Assault

Kadara leapt off of the Raider shortly after the attack order, landing softly in the snow below, and moved up to take a position of vantage from which she could lay down fire on the Mechanicus wretches. She switched her splinter rifle to a semi-automatic firing mode and downed three combat servitors with a salvo of sharp toxin-projectiles. Though visibility remained low, she managed to track their sluggish movements easily enough, and picked off an additional three combat servitors. Her tactic was to pick off servitors further in the back, reducing the front line's ability to reinforce itself. And, by all accounts, it seemed her plan was working for now.

Charging alongside his colleague, Kaesar tore into the defenses. Cleaving servitors in half with brutal deadly swings with the intent to kill his target in one hit. They weren't worth anything else for him, just racking up a kill count as fast as possible for now and trying to hold true to the decree of Drach forced on him.
Whatever foe dared to be in reach he butchered, staining the snow in oil and blood in equal measure.

(6 servitors dead)

Finding the traveling to be uneventful, Heltherith wasn't all that surprised the crystal lake was suffering from the Mon'keigh, and them harvesting some kind of crystal. Still, she looked at their foes and said to the Haemonculus "Simply put, we take them down and see what we can use." She decided to omit any mention of box-cracking just yet, considering she didn't know yet where Yrara lied when it came to loyalty.

The Wych then said "Well, your creations can deal with the normal troops while we personally defeat their larger defender. Hopefully then, we might be able to gather some intelligence from whoever's around that knows what's going on." With that said, she readied her weapons, ready to start their attack. "Well, you command your creations so you tell them to attack first. I'll be right behind you."

having his grin on he decided to take the lead, "Alright my darling, and my darlings I shall take the lead." Yrara said as he began moving he he pointed. "Let us go play with these young born mon'keigh but let us make sure we have a few that are alive." Yrara said ordering his wracks to attack with him. Taking out his shard rifle and he readied himself to heading into the fray once more seeing one of the bigger targets he decided to try to take the bigger Preatorian for himself while his Wracks engaged the skitari.

@Maleth "My dear would so kind and have us share a bigger task of taking the bigger machine of the mon keigh's out" Yrara Asked the wych as he continued moving forward. Taking note at the number of skitarii He threw out one of his hay wire grenades towards a group up team of skitari.

<Forest Relay> @Draconion @bossaroo

While Ave'ras and the rest of the enforcers stayed back, skulking around the trees and out of sight, Thû made his way into the command chimera. It was quite easy for him to reach it, not because the Admech were stupid but because his unique set of skills allowed him to move unseen when facing such foe. Of course, security inside the main base will probably be way tighter, but here in the wilderness of Kelih, the metal lovers had to work with what they had and what they had wasn't enough to stop a Mandrake of Aelindrach.

Passing through the plating and into the vehicle, Thû found himself inside a way more spacey interior, where a single Tech-Priest of some kind, sat behind a console, hooked up in his seat and gazing at myriad of different screens showing all sort of different readings. Besides him there were two slaved servitors operating other consoles, and so far, neither they or the Priest had any idea that Thû was in their midst.


OOC If Boss doesn't reply to this post, I'll act on @Draconion your calls. You can take out the Priest but then the outside force will be aware of something happening. If you give a call for the outside dudes to fire, they'll have +2 attack due to the ambush.

Enemies:
- Explorator chimera
- 2 Ironstriders Ballistarii (Elite)
- 10 Skitarii rangers

Thû:11HP, Ave'ras:11HP, Enforcers: 6HP



<Outpost> @kanila @Grall_Stonefist @Kalle @Vlayden @Wata @Skarboy

Swooping in like true marauders, the Dark Eldar attacked with the fury customary to their kind. They came out of nowhere, the defenders, despite their numbers, still were pretty much inadequate for the task at hand and that was shown as they died in droves. Aesra (and his beasts), Kadara, Venessia and Kaesar killed them left and right, while Hetax and Kholivaz remained on the Raider and manned the turrets, providing covering fire.

Combat servitors first engaged their defensive protocols and tried to retaliate, but to some success. Aesra suffered a wound as a chainsword sliced off a part of his leg armor, before his Helspider pounced on the thing and ripped it to shreds. Kaesar and Venessia fought together and proved to be more than a match for these simpletons, the two Incubi slaying additional five servitors before Venessia opened fire on the Skitarii. She killed three of them with her pistol, showing a fine accuracy for a melee specialist before they retaliated, couple of scorch marks impacting on her armor and making her grunt in pain where they connected with weaker joints, but nothing overly serious to stop her advance.

Kadara took out couple of additional servitors, even some of those who weren't equipped for combat (just for the sake of it) and she saw how the remaining drones started retreating inside the buildings. It is also at that point that a wide door opened on one of those buildings and a proper welcoming committee arrived at the scene. Or at least that's what the defenders hoped it to be.

A Hellhound tank followed by ten Skitarii armed with chainswords and shields came out first, creating a perimeter around the building. Behind them came another group of Skitarii, these ones carrying lasguns and supported by a Chimera with a multilaser on top of it, which instantly began firing at the Raider. Maybe it was skill or pure luck, however most of the shots connected and while some melted the armor plates couple of them grazed both Hetax and Kholivaz, awarding them with fresh wounds.

Finally, instead of the tech-adept who oversaw the servitors and who was now nowhere to be seen (probably fled already), in charge of the reinforcements was a proper Skitarii Alpha, armed with a power sword and a arc pistol, the weapon buzzing with blue light.



Enemies:
- 5 Combat servitors (mix of lasguns, stubbers, chain weapons)
- 3 Skitarii (lasguns)
- 30 servitors (unequipped for combat) (fleeing the scene)

- 15 Skitarii (lasguns)
- 10 Skitarii melee-oriented (chainswords + combat shields) (veterans)
- 1 Hellhound (Elite)
- 1 Chimera (multilaser) (veteran)
- Skitarii Alpha (power sword + arc pistol) (elite)


Aesra:10HP (Helspider:2HP, Razorwings:2HP), Kaesar:11HP, Kadara:11HP, Venessia:10HP, Hetax:10HP, Kholivaz:10HP

To find out what is truly important to the prey, spook it first and then see where it runs, where it goes to ground, where it turns and fights.

@bossaroo

"Thû to Ave'ras - engage. Kill them all," he subvocalises into his communicator before settling back to observe what the Tech Priest does.