His blade leaving the bifurcated body of the alien warrior, Isaiah spun around, commenting his sergeant's injury with his own, insignificant groan of pain as he put too much weight on his nastily scraped knee. The Job sibling did not like the thought of failing his brother - none of his brothers! - and resolved to fight harder, lest worse wounds will be suffered by the sixth. Within the same movement, he lashed at another of these green-clad warriors, his momentum enough to carry the biting sword beyond the Eldar armour, tearing into the flesh below and splattering the Marine with unclean alien blood. Isaiah noticed the arrival of these new warriors shortly before being jumped by another foe, an attack that he could only barely parry. While he was a superhuman being, he had to admit they were incredibly fast, too fast for him to properly fight, as a man that was used to being faster than any enemy. With their swords locked, Isaiah's first reaction was to resort to elegance in simplicity and punch the alien, causing it to fall over backwards from the force of the blow - an advantage the Emperor's Child capitalised upon by smashing its head beneath his mighty boot. With the Sergeant leaving, Isaiah elected to follow as per his previous order, and kept an eye on the sky, subduing bloodthirst for vigilance to prosper.
<Ruins - Eldar gambit> @DeranVendar @Uriel1339 @Avenging-Angel @Vulpas @Grall_Stonefist @EvicusDasan1 @Casavay @matt23 Theo reached Davian's side just in time to see the Devastator pointing his heavy bolter upwards and unleashing a salvo of kraken rounds at one of the Raiders. May it be pure luck or being a member of the Emperor's Children, Davian riddled the alien craft with shells and during the onslaught he managed to score a number of hits on the critical systems such as engine and gravity stabilizers. It was followed by a beautiful explosion and rocked the craft and sent it plummeting down on the ground, it hitting the lowest side of the ziggurat and breaking apart, all of its passengers dead. There was an angry howl following the destruction and the alien crafts opened their fire in retaliation, using full force of their armored crafts upon the people below. Striking Scorpions around Isaiah, Caphen and Arnock died as they were killed with various vile weaponry, some of them simply ceasing to exist. All three marine suffered a number of wounds before they could get to cover while Denatus managed to score a hit on the eldar ranger chest, who ended up too distracted by the attack and let his guard down. His armor still kept him alive but Da'hirl was wounded now and he slowly backed away towards the entrance to the tower, leaving Destroyer in his own mess as couple of small splinter shards impacted on his heavy armor. However the biggest concentration of enemy fire fell on dueling champions. Rylanor fought with Striking Scorpion Exarch and both of them seemed equal in skill, each suffering a number of wounds but not letting up. But then a number of dark lances fired up the ground around the two warriors and each of them felt the sting of it. Rylanor wavered as a huge hole could be seen on his stomach while Exarch also took a step back, him missing one arm and half his shoulder now. This gave Elijah excellent opportunity to blast away at the eldar leader, riddling his back with bullets that set aflame his armor and skin (OOC you can execute Exarch with your next post), but what happened afterwards brought horror to everyone's eyes. Hadrian was perhaps the first one to spot the danger as he managed to observe the enemy crafts in his couple of short jumps, seeing that the aliens aboard them were readying to jump. He cried out in warning but it was already too late. While firing, Ravager placed itself right above the duel and a number of dark figures jumped from it on the ground. The first one to connect with the temple's stone floor was a tall pale-skinned eldar armed in dark ornamented half-plate armor, with an arrogant smirk on his face and carrying a pair of long and nasty looking swords. However what surprised even more was his brutal speed, easily reaching over the speed they saw from both the Exarch and Rylanor himself. His twin blades whirled through the air and too late to do anything, they were aimed at the Emperor's Children Champion. First strike opened up Rylanor's chest armor, slicing golden Aquila in half. Second strike cut away his arm which held the banner while the third strike caught him below his belt and in a gruesome display of alien savagery, cut him in half. All of that happened in less than a heartbeat and the pale-skinned eldar kicked Rylanor in the chest, effectively severing both halves of his body and throwing him down the stairs of the ziggurat. At the same time, behind him dropped a number of heavily-armored aliens with long wicked blades that fell on the remaining Striking Scorpions with great zeal, as if having something personal against these green-armored aliens. "I have come for the girl," the pale-skinned eldar spoke and whipped his swords from Rylanor's blood while the other two remaining Raiders began unloading their troops, a mix of dark-armored Xenos carrying long and sharp rifles and a rabble of female aliens who carried paired daggers in their hands while wearing almost no armor. The females instantly went inside the tower while the dark-armored aliens stayed around the place, shooting at few remaining surviving eldar. "If any of you apes tries to stop me, you'll end up like your pretty mon'keigh leader," the eldar said and began marching towards the tower as well. All that be as it may, the biggest issue for any Emperor's Children marine was not the dark eldar's words, but the fact the banner held by Rylanor, the oldest standard of the legion, was about to fall on the ground and if that happens, they can kiss their honor goodbye for there was no greater insult to a legion's honor than seeing your banner fall. OOC: Enemy force - Eldar: - 2 Rangers (Elite) Ranger Leader Da'hirl Swiftwind (mini-boss 5 HP, will flee inside the tower in 1 turn) - 4 Striking Scorpions (veterans) + Striking Scorpion Exarch (mini-boss about to get executed) New Enemy force - Dark Eldar: - 2 Raiders - 1 Ravager - 15 Kabalite Warriors - 6 Incubi (Elites) - Archon leader (Boss 35 HP) - (10 Wyches (veterans) who just entered the tower) Friendly forces: IMPORTANT: You all have a free action to make which is trying to grab the banner before it falls on the ground. You must try to catch it and in case you fail, you'll all suffer -3 to all actions till the end of deployment. HP: Elijah: 8 Isaiah: 8 [FOTF CD 1 turns] Davian: 8 Hadrian: 10 Denatus: 9 Theo: 10 [Heal 2 more charges] Caphen: 6 Arnock: 9 @EvicusDasan1 your left arm is fucked up and you can't use it unless Apothecary heals it, meaning you can only either fire a pistol or use your melee weapon atm.
Arnock ran to the banner before it could fall to the ground. He knew that the banner was the symbol of their Legion and to let it fall was a dishonor to their Father and their legion. He would kill everything in his path just to get to it.
Elijah roared as he was done shooting, having clicked his magazine empty. With the anger of the display what this foe did to Champion Rylanor, he slammed the Bolt Pistol with the strength he could carry a Missile Launcher one-handed with right into the face of the Exarch, slamming the alien creature on the floor, forcing him on his knees. "FOR FULGRIM AND THE LEGION YOUR BLOOD SHALL FLOW FREELY, VILE XENOS!" He announced, standing behind him and tilting the creatures head back with his left hand, while the right hand with the knife positioned over his neck and severed the head from the rest of the body as he sawed the creature's head off. "SEE YOUR LEADER DEAD AND FALL INTO DESPAIR!" Elijah held the head of the alien up. Only to suddenly see that Rylanor was cut in half and kicked down the stairs. Equally horrible, the banner! The Devastator Job dropped the alien head immediately and leaped to catch the banner, not daring to let it touch the ground. OOC: Full action catch.
Caphen staggered from the wounds inflicted upon him. But what shocked him even more was seeing Rylanor fall in such a quick display of savagery and skill. "Do not let the banner fall!" Caphen shouted as he ran to the banner. "Apothecary! Stabilize him! Do what you must!" Even if they had not seen eye to eye Caphen respected Rylanor more than any other astartes, and he refused to let him die without trying to save his life. Drawing his bolt pistol and sheathing his sword as he ran Illios took shots at the remaining green eldar. OOC: running and taking shots at scorpions while using bonus action to also try and grab the banner like all the others
Davian locks his eyes first upon falling craft, feeling twin hearts beat savagely in his chest with a rush of pride. It all drains away as two travesties take place. Seeing standard fall Emperor's Child springs to his feet despite protests from his battered bodies every nerve. Moving forward with legs taking wide, graceful strides Devastator attempts to anchor himself around the standard, ready to tuck it against his side and pauldron with his arm. Regardless of catching it or someone else likely beating him to it the warrior snatches up his last grenade and gives it a lopsided toss toward the formation of Incubi, looking to disrupt their enemy in anyway possible. Things were looking grim and everything looked to be riding upon whether or not their standard touched the ground. If such were to occur Davian had no doubt their lives would follow pride and honor into oblivion. "FORWARD MY BROTHERS! OUR FATHER'S WILL IS OUR OWN! THESE ALIENS SHALL NOT BREAK IT! TO WAR, TO WAR! FOR FULGRIM! FOR THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN! FOR THE EMPEROR!" Throat burned and lungs heaved in protest as they sought to catch up with so much expelled air. Eyes alight with stimulant fueled fire heavy bolter begins singing its war song once more, every shot a savage drum beat as he rakes the enemy opposition with kraken rounds, spears of red death flooding his field of view as his body swivels to and fro in an earnest attempt to utterly obliterate every single misbegotten cancer that infests the field of battle. OOC: Rushing to try and nab standard with arm and prop it up, tossing krak grenade at Incubi/Archon, heavy boltering at everything possible w/ kraken rounds.
with all others trying to save the standard, Denatus would have loved the honour of cathing it, seing the misconceptions many others gave his role. But to jump into that would end up in a huge clusterfuck, instead, amidst all the movement of it all, the barely clad warriors chasing after the witch, the now wounded Da'hirl doing the same, the tower was a conflux of great many foes. letting D'hirl run, Denatus used his short moment of respite to take out his phosphex bomb, and prime it to remote detonation, a little detonator coming out the handle, he moved closer, and made an aimed lob to plant the bomb right on the side of the entrance, once Da'hirl was through, he was sure the new warriors would capture the witch, but no one would survive leaving the building, plus if they tried to leave any other way, he was sure the phosphex would destroy the base structure. After his plan had been set in motion, he had to turn back, no matter what else, he would also have to attempt assisting his brothers.
X-077 Landing after his recon flight, furious that he'd been too late to do anything to warn his brothers, Hadrian drew his chainsword when he witnessed Rylanor being carved up. Ignoring the rest of the squad's mad dash for the banner or the various eldar warriors Hadrian instead went after the Champion, standing over him to protect both him and the Apothecary, when he arrived. [OOC: Using 'Path of the Survivor'!]
Rage boiled from the apothecary as he saw Rylanor carved up his arm and chest open and his Life ruin flashing critical red he made bull rush towards the injured champion all thoughts of aiding Caphen at the moment were gone. "COVER ME AND MAKE THESE FORSAKEN XENOS PAY FOR THE FALLEN BROTHERS DO NOT LET ONE ESCAPE!" Theo roared in rage as he activated his narthicanum and began a desperate attempt to stabilize Rylanor and save him from deaths hand, one of his organs inside him might put him in a coma to save his life, when critically damaged.
"THE BANNER!" Like most of his brothers, Isaiah too was more preoccupied with the falling standard than with anything else in this world or any other. Only barely remembering to attach his sword to his armour's mag-stripe, he sprinted over to the banner, leaping with all his might in an attempt to fetch it before it would come to be sullied - feeling all his wounds in the process, but ignoring the pain for this higher cause.
