+++My Autarch, be warned. I fear some manner of sorcery is being undertaken by the forces of the Primordial Annihilator. I sense the aether stir. The source of the disturbance emanates from the city center. I assume that is where their ritual is taking place. They are using the unwitting troops as sacrifices. Reign in your warriors, lest they aid the enemy further. Kill only those that you must. We must press towards the subterranean entrance with all due haste+++ ((well balls...yay! someone told me!)) "Sounds like the Blood God is pressing if that is the case, will do." "Exarchs! We push to the next building! Reapers, suppressing fire! Follow when we secure the next building! Scorpions, hold the first floor and protect the Reapers! Banshees and Avengers, on me! Either we make it to the catacombs soon or we stop and die! Spectres! Follow us up soon, you're falling behind and I'm not losing you!" The Pathfinders then crossed the threshold together into the building and took up positions near the window. Good, at least they made it through the fight. Then Sel realized his Spiders were still advancing on the artillery. Arkash was being too brash. "Warp Spiders! Do not grow bloodthirsty now! Silence the guns but know that killing is feeding the Dark Forces here. Kill only as necessary. I mean it when I say do not commit. You're only helping the enemy! I'll keep a waypoint on myself and I'll tell you when we reach the catacombs. Be ready to fall back on that mark."
"Reapers the moment that building is breached we advance, same roles as before establish a fire base and make sure the enemy faces fire no matter which way they rush us! Kill only those you must, Kaine must be denied sacrifice so that the Blood Gods thievery is stopped! " Oh how that bit pained him, holding back on the slaughter yet he knew better than to press their luck when the rituals of the warp were involved; daemons were the last thing they needed. For the moment though the advance required cover, Fadren and Ereth continued applying pressure to the entrenched infantry so they didn't fire on their allies, Norten and Banin quickly joined the fray as they vacated the lower level and joined the rest up top. "We shall jump down to the street when it is time to advance, Banin watch the stairwell! " He ordered them about while guiding his shots into the windows of the target building, blowing out the floor from beneath those on the third level and dropping rubble to those on the second effectively throwing the Mon'keigh on both levels into disarray and leaving them easy pickings for the rest of his shrine.
He cries in our ears. What does he know of war? He has not tread the path of the Warp Spider. Can he not see, if these guns continue then our brethren will all be fed to the ruinous powers anyway? We cannot ignore their troops. We must. It'd be better to kill every last one of them. Perhaps, but that only makes the dark powers stronger. We are not here to wage war on the ruinous powers, not today. Nonsense, our war with the Dark Gods is eternal. We are Warp Spiders, we fight back the ruinous powers each time we enter the Warp. We shall fight them it again today, if that is what must be done. Focus on the objective. The objective will go unfulfilled if we all die to the guns first. ''Exarch, enemy squad on our left flank,'' Sithian reported, ducking behind a wall as lasfire popped overhead. ''Ignore them, we advance to the guns,'' Arkash commanded. With a slight hiss they jumped forward again, all in the blink of an eye for the humans, the Warp Spiders long gone by the time they reached their last known position. ''Exarch, the Autarc-'' Mochian started, only to be cut off. ''I heard the Autarch, Mochian!'' Arkash declared. ''But we ignore his orders?'' Mochian said, unrelenting in his line of questioning. ''I seek not to ignore him for any reason beyond the preservation of our warhost. Those guns continue to fire, these humans are willing to sacrifice both us and their own for their corrupt purpose. I would see that those guns fall silent. I would deny them their best chance to deliver us all to their Dark Gods and if we must disobey the Autarch, then that is what must be done.''
The Scorpions had drawn the attention of the Guardsman, it was then the Banshees arrived. Their arrival announced by their wails as they leapt from their position each Banshee carving their way through a Guardsman. Maiev landed on her feet tossing a Triskele at the Sergeant who was decapitated in an instant. The Guardsmen, dazed, confused, and afraid, fell quickly at the hands of the Banshees without their leader. Hearing the orders of the Autarch Maiev complied reluctantly. The Foreboding Doom made their way towards Selhiat preparing for whatever assault he had planned. They then received their orders to push the next building. He thinks we need the Dire Avengers. Bah! The Humans can not resist our blades nor our wails. We can carve a path without the fear of friendly fire with those warriors around. The Foreboding Doom pushed towards the next building. "Swift and silent sisters, hide and surprise them at the most opportune moment. The Banshees took places around the windows the Guardsman were firing out of. Maiev waited for the soldier to reload. He ducked behind cover fumbling for the new magazine. He then stood up prepared to return fire, but in front of him was an Eldar clad in bone-white armor. Maiev sent a shiver down his spine with her wail then decapitated him with her Triskele and forced her way in the building. The other Guardsman turned to attack her but as if perfectly synchronized the rest of the Banshees leapt through the openings cutting and cleaving the Guardsmen. They had no time to return a single shot in resistance. The building was small consisting of one floor and the Banshees proceeded through it. Humans appeared from the doorways bayonets at the ready, but such attempts were futile from their conception. A few moments later the building seemed clear and the Banshee took cover within. "Maiev, reporting, the building is clear. No thanks to you or your Dire Avengers." She snapped over the communications device.
Petulant Exarchs, Sel thought. At least most of the Exarchs took their charge pridefully, instead of complaining every step of the way. "Warhost! To the next building, Reapers and Scorpions, be ready to follow! Covering fire!" Stepping out of the doorway into the free street, he felt that this whole operation, though relatively smooth had become quieted all too easily. Sel quickly noticed that the artillery was not at all directed at the Eldar. The Imperial Guard was known to him for its occasional incompetence, its artillery often falling short or the inaccurate nature of their guns missing their mark more often than not, but this was... way too far off. The Imperial Artillery wasn't even trying to follow the Eldar, it was being redirected towards the south, closer to larger concentrations of Imperial troops. More blood. They were intentionally firing on their own troops. Even with this, the concentration of troops was far too low. Clearly targeting the artillery made the twisted Imperial command pull back the troops to defend it. The Spiders would soon be facing the majority of the local garrison. "Arkash: the artillery is aiming at Imperial troops. They were never targeting us. I'm not convincing you to change targets, but I will repeat myself: do not overextend. The enemy is converging on you, and you are a sufficient distance away to require multiple jumps to return to us. We're moving into the second building. We'll be at the catacombs within the next millicycle." Where did the Spectres go?!, Sel worried. The Dire Avengers, Fire Dragons, Pathfinders, and Banshees had made it to the next building. The Seers we're now following up. "Reapers and Scorpions, relocate! Everyone else, covering fire! Update on the Spectres? I've lost them on my tracker but I know they're alive. Simius, Siel: where are you?" No plan survives contact with the enemy.
''We can survive their attention, Autarch. These guns will fall silent, your path will be cleared. If we draw their attention away from you, then that suits me too,'' Arkash barked in reply to the Autarch's words. ''Spiders, to cover!'' he yelled, as a Leman Russ rounded on to the street they were charging down. Noisy Mon-keigh machine. It may not primitive, but we cannot weather a shot from it. The Warp Spiders moved in to the nearest building, using the human architecture for cover. Arkash peered out, watching as the tank rumbled past, ignorant of their presence. A few scores of men followed the vehicle, equally ignorant of the Spider's gaze. One of their chimera transport vehicles rolled in to view, likely holding yet more humans inside. They were heading in the direction the Spiders had just come from. ''Exarch, should we strike?'' Hwaith asked, the end of his death spinner pointed at a Guardsman's head. ''Stay yourselves, Spiders. They are too numerous,'' Arkash said, kneeling as he remained watchful, waving Hwaith to take cover again. ''We must engage this foe, they pose a greater threat than the long range guns. We wait until they're away from sight and we follow, unseen. We strike when opportunity favours us,'' he said to his warriors. What of the artillery? This is a greater threat. Yes, and if they are firing on their own men anyway, well, let them. So back to the warhost? A retreat? Not a retreat, a new threat The situation changes, we must adapt. Adapt. Survive. The Guardsmen and their tank disappeared from view, taking a turn down another street. ''Spiders, move,'' he ordered, and they broke from cover, giving chase to their foe, using the buildings for cover. The Spider's weapons would massacre the infantry given half a chance, but a tank? Perhaps if they took it off guard, perhaps Arkash's blades could end the machine, but not before the foot soldiers or the transport vehicle all set aim upon him. No, they would have to follow for now and hope that the infantry would create enough distance between themselves at the vehicle for the Spiders to strike. ''Autarch, beware, there is a Mon-keigh tank on its way toward your location,'' Arkash reported through his comms device. ''They have foot soldiers and a transport vehicle in tow. We are tracking them and will engage if given chance.''
"Affirmed, Exarch. I register your marks. The lead tank takes priority. I advise you wait for it to reach this intersection before acting, where they laid blockades to slow attackers. Stalling it there will stop the column as the transport cannot drive around it. Their own defenses will stop them for us. They'll have a range advantage on us if the Spectres do not reposition in time. Otherwise, the Fire Dragons will lie in wait for them, but that will be a terribly risky venture." "Banshees, move across the street and breach the last building. Pathfinders, cover them. Seers, wait to follow, we'll need you on the catacomb doors and in one piece. Dragons, lay a melta bomb down the street and fall back here. Lay in cover and prepare to fall back to us. Reapers, we need you in this building suppressing heads. Scorpions, back up the Fire Dragons and assure that no one finds their hiding spot." "Spectres, where are you!?"
The Reapers leapt from their second story perches and rushed across the street. Fadren and Ereth, his only student with the strength and agility to accurately fire his weapon on the move, covered the side streets while the other three advanced between them. Again they deployed as ordered and turned the building into an effective fire base. Fadren positioned himself on beside a blown out wall and unleashed his Tempest Launcher on the entrance way and front walls of the next building giving Maiev and her Banshees multiple entrances to flood in. Draklith and Ereth maintained suppressive fire on the upper levels, Banin covered the Fire Dragons mining the street and Norten had taken up the role of anti-sniper duty. Fadren braced and took care to make sure anyone on the lower levels were locked down or simply dead. "Korlyth! Your Scorpions support is appreciated but do not waste your full talents here waiting for the enemy. Leave some behind to help us deal with unforeseen incidents but otherwise aid the main assault so we can be done with this!"
"Seems like the Eldar finally made it inside.... Good." The man stated as he flexed his arms. "Soon they reveal their precious thing nobody dared to find, and then.... We take it like candy from a baby." He bursted into laughter, throwing more and more Guardsmen at them. "DO NOT LET THEM GET WHAT THEY WANT! HUNT THE ELDAR! HUNT THE WITCH! PURGE THE XENOS!" Being off the Vox again. "And die as well, loyalist dogs." The Orders given, the Guardsmen engaged any Eldar with most aggressive maneuvers they could make. Chimeras heading for the center of the Eldar troops, to deploy Infantry nearby. With Las Guns shooting around, trying to hit an every Eldar. Mounted cannons of Chimeras and Hell Hounds aiming to kill Eldar, killing some of their own infantry among. But the Guard did nowhere place as unity. The troops were all scattered as if hunting the individual shrines down or fighting without any plan but pure rage alone.
"Affirmative Fadren, I'll leave Shalyth and Idarius with you. Scorpions on me, we go to cover the Fire Dragons." Breaking cover, Korlynth leads his squad to the Dragons location. Moving quickly they manage to avoid exposing themselves to the guardsmen. Settling in beside the anti-tank squad, the Exarch waits for the trap to be sprung before pouncing on the human soldiers.
