When Kremnar Eranite fired his bolters, he swore on his life that they had been on target. Yet the kraken bolts seemed to slow whenever they closed with their target, allowing the Emperor's Child to simply weave around them. Those that didn't simply missed as the former astartes twisted and turned in ways that his body shouldn't. The sternguard veteran took comfort only in the fact that their Iron Master had blasted the bastard at point blank with his lascannon, causing the enemy to scream in rage. Watching with satisfaction as their continued assault broke the weapon of the Emperor's Child, he relocated himself to another cover before realizing the enemy doing something, and a foul energy wrapped around his hand, shaping into the form of an axe before resting. Kremnar raised his gun again before pausing for a moment. Somehow, it suddenly seemed better to take his power scythe and engage the enemy in melee combat. Didn't his bolt rounds simply fly past the enemy before? When has he ever missed? Brother Herchel had screamed something to their chaplain but he couldn't make out the words. Without a second thought, the sternguard veteran put away his bolters before pulling out his power scythe, and got behind the formation of melee attackers, waiting for an opening to strike. However, even as the thoughts came into his mind, he had the notion to at least defend himself somewhat, and his slice with the power weapon allowed for a quick recovery in case it missed and warranted a counter attack. OOC: Balanced attack with power scythe, defense on self. Equipment: 1/4 Kraken rounds for bolters. 1 Dragonfire bolt pistol clip.
Marcus would be treated to a hard jab to the side, one that even the slowest of Ogryns would easily translate to "fucking cover me" as Vera continued to follow the Champion's radiant form with her crossbow. Herschel's arrival would be warmly welcomed, yet another armored form between herself and the chaos of the battle field greatly improving the woman focus as a clear shot finally presented itself, and the Sister let the bolt loose. A pang of regret tugged at Vera's mind as she immediately set to reloading, the silver bolt in her hand only reminding her of the precious armaments wasted when the tower came crumbling down. Nonetheless. She'd make what she had left count. OOC: All out attack with anti-psyker bolt
Fully consumed by preparing another shot, Vilhelm almost didn't notice how some of his allies seemed unnaturally eager to attack the traitor, same eagerness pushing at Vilhelm's mind, but not strong enough to affect him in any way. While the fight was hectic and nothing about it made sense, Iron Master's brain was still trying to rationalize everything: It seems like he has control over solid projectiles, I've seen some of the strongest psykers stop bolts mid-flight, although redirecting them is definitely something new. But at least it seems like his powers don't affect energy weapons. Or maybe they would affect Plasma, but can't affect Las ones? Volkite was affected, but it operates on an entirely different set of principles. Las weapons might just be the way to go here, not like I have much of a choice. While it was still entirely possible that every weapon could be affected and he was just lucky to score that shot, such train of thought offered much-needed clarity in the surrounding chaos. Lascannon was definitely the way to go here, while Bolter should remain silent for the time being, especially with how many of his allies were in close proximity. OOC: All-out attack with Lascannon, Defense with Servo-arm, Bolter doesn't do anything this turn.
@Vulpas @BruticusTheGoreHound @matt23 "I see it Brother Herchel, it would seem this bastard has a way to influence our behavior it more ways than one. It won't help him much though, feeding our primal impulses only makes our blood turn to molten lava and you cannot control the volcano when it erupts. It melts everything in its sight, making even the sturdiest of buildings fall flat against its unstoppable onslaught," Soul Smith explained, grinning after the damage he inflicted on the Cautorious, no, not Cautorious, just another stain on the ground after the reforged ones are done with him. Seeing that both Dyzek and Nathiel went full in on the Centurion, Seth moved behind them in order to support them as well. Aligning his attack to come right after the series of blows his Little Brother throws at the enemy, Soul Smith also spotted that Dyzek's was far from perfect shape, so he also prepared himself to intercept any attack the Emperor's Children legionary might throw at him, while also readying himself for when that saber comes again. OOC Bonus attack on Cautorious with Gorehowl, one defense on Dyzek, other defense on myself.
Act II"No,no,no; this is their moment Techmarine." Ranged combat was obstructed by the loyalist. So many bodies, three of them encased in Cataphracti armor, surging towards Cautorious from multiple directions without any heed for greater strategy made firing too risky. Of course the Centurion cared not, letting unwitting met shields close in while he settled his stance to receive multiple attacks and respond in kind. Dyzek was fast approaching, but that did not mean the Enlightened one would neglect his critics at range. Gaze settle on Vilhelm once more, voice invading his mind. With a subtlety that would become genuinely terrifying later on Cautorious influences the Iron Master's thoughts. "To slay the Emperors fallen Child we need more than this mindlessness. We need motivation. We need a martyr, a death." Thoughts were a warped reflection of Vilhelm's own, mind commanding him to act in the traitor's favor under the pretense of doing the right thing. Lascannon turns from fallen angel and to the three strong cluster of Marcus, Herchel, and Vera. Sister of Silence lets loose a bolt blessed with precision and poor timing. Shot penetrates just short of collar and Cautorious briefly falters, snapping up bolt and snapping it in half. Link to Vilhelm is instantly severed; just after finger clutches trigger tight and initiates firing. Brief haze lasts only half a second, unawares and regaining control in just quick enough a period of time to see everything vanish in a flash of bright light. Herchel's head twists, hammer arm curving back to shove Vera into the safety of his shadow while twin guns rise to try and block oncoming shot. A quick gauge of laser's angle tells the veteran he and Sister will be safe... "Ahhh good. Everything will feel so much more genuine without your safety net hanging around." Cautorious' head dips, eyes turning away last and sucking up every ounce of satisfaction they can from the sight of Marcus taking one of the Iron Master's own masterfully accurate shots. Apothecary briefly turns invisible in the contact flash, body easily missed as it is cast away from point of impact and is tossed into the raging melee going on around them. Ignorant of what had transpired and why Captain saw fit to gloat when he was about to be put through a living blender Dyzek closes in once more. Saber is tossed from hand below to one above, limb instantly dropping like a guillotine to hack off Sergeant's forearm, a lightning claw clattering to the ground with steam wafting from warm flesh within. Boiling ecstasy ravages Dyzek while his other claw stabs forward, skimming over turned glaive blade aligned to decapitate the Iron Warrior before nails can penetrate armor. Cautorious chuckles and arm begins to move; then a power scythe levers into his chest. Kremnar plants curving steel straight through melded ceramite and flesh padding beneath with a mighty double handed blow. Seth steps forward and uses Gorehowl to hook Dyzek's pauldron and wrench him away from Cautorious. Lightning claws only scratch the surface before nails are ripped away from prey by the Soul Smith whom shoulders forward to stand between wounded Sergeant and the abomination. Kremnar withdraws scythe and prepares for a retaliation that shant come: Cautorious preoccupied by their three blood lusting Terminators. Nathiel leads with usual bravado, hammer slamming towards glaive blade previously leveled to behead Dyzek. Recalling what had been done to other half earlier recoils, explosive striking power instead spent on his outer right thigh. Leg buckles inwards and there is an audible grunt of pain. Saber streaks out like a comet and splits champion's right knee cap open in revenge. Limb gives out briefly but bone still holds along with all its tendons allowing Nathiel to recover. Blade sweeps back and strikes Kahrnak, narrowly avoiding his jugular and instead creating a single deep gash crossing above both breasts. Sword flies free of one hand and across to lower right which whips it back towards the Terminator's head. Kahrnak uses power axe to block, letting it glide off the flat side of his own blade before twisting axe and swinging so that it bites deep into a hip. Weapon sticks in place and Cautorious hammers a fist into the veteran's helmet, dislodging both weapon and owner from traitor. For the enchanted there was no stinging of flesh or thunderous headaches that normally accompanied the punishment they received; in its place was only a feverish desire for more punishment: their own or their foe's. It was Kremnar who reigned himself in first though, stepping back cautiously from Cautorious and closer towards Dyzek who was struggling to rise, ignorant of how rough his condition really was. Marcus' quiet rune an anchor against the disorienting fog clinging to every thought. "I beg to differ Chaplain. I am the playwright here, not you. Slaanesh has sponsored this stage, and they shall have a show worthy of their exalted presence." Warsong instantly rises into a clash against Cautorious' glaive, sparks exploding from burning axe as spear penetrates power unit and renders the giant Excoriator into little more than its original form. Gorehowl responds in kind by unceremoniously splitting several fingers straight from Cautorious' free hand. Surprisingly there is no shriek and instead mask cracks and snaps into form of an enraged god. Blade pried free from Warsong Centurion drives glaive through one of Seth's leg, spearing it out from under him and driving Soul Smith to a knee. Saber slashes and Gorehowl intercepts, teeth locking up as one catches against blade. Mutant matches Chaplain's augmented muscle with ease, pinning limb in place and using damaged glaive for another stab. One of Seth's hearts is obliterated by stab and twist, blade withdrawn to create an appropriately gory blast. Yet another strike is prepared to deprive wounded Iron Warrior of his last beating heart. "NO!" Nathiel plows into the fray, wrapping lone arm around Cautorious' waist from behind and putting over a century of desperate war built strength into lifting the bastard up and slamming him over onto back. Eyes wide in surprise the Centurion ascends with a thunderous beat of wings, narrowly escaping the fall of warrior's thunder hammer. Brass rounds from every bolter available to Squad's Petroski and Herchel chase the traitor higher into the skies. A tree trunk thick beam of focused energies from Vilhelm's cannon nearly impales the Captain who only just jinks aside. Flame wreathed bike passes by trailing beam and sweeps a hand through it as a glider might drag fingers through a lake or sea just below. Fingers come back as smoking nubs and Doomrider cackles as if it were the height of hilarity. By the time he throttles flying bike once more the fingers have regenerated so that they might be destroyed in new exciting ways later on Terra. Melta strength bolters lock onto Cautorious and fire, Speeder lifts up above them. Beams smash into the neck of Knight of Terra, boring a hole through armor plating and exposing just a bit more of the interior to raging war outside. Solar auxillia and Iron Warriors pour out like platelets clotting a wound thinking it an attempted boarding action. Finding no enemies pressing on them the legionaries fall back to redeploy where they may actually be useful while lesser combatants remain behind and fire upon the fallen IIIrd. Entire battlefield tilts once again as Warlord takes another step closer to the palace. Early morning light and all surrounding fire is briefly washed white by the discharge of a titanic plasma weapon that bleaches nearby breach of the countless traitors pouring into the perimeter. Like kicking an ant mound it only wipes out a small visible fraction before many more erupt into the opening from beyond. A titan grade power fist crackles idly at the god-machine's side, spirits hungry for action, yet knowing full well a charge is suicide. Slowly but surely they continue to fall back; aptly aware close combat is an inevitability in the future anyways. Squads Petroski and Herchel: Dyzek: 4 Herchel: 15 Seth: 7 Kahrnak: 10 Kremnar: 9 Vera: 6 Nathiel: 10 Vilhelm: 9 Conditions: Dyzek: Left forearm, and thus flamer claw, lost + Rising Winds: 4/4: Re-roll + Bonus Action Kremnar: 2/4 Kraken Clip. Herchel: Furious Guardian 2/4 Seth: Bloody Rage - Attack Re-rolls, Crit bonus Attacks, Extra Attack + Warsong is damaged and loses its power weapon status + Rosarius 1/2. Nathiel: Exemplar (10 HP) - 1 bonus action in the coming round.Vilhelm: Command of the Arms Smith 4/5 That Asshole: Cautorious Estades the Enlightened and Uplifted: 22 Conditions:
The Apothecary hadn't payed much attention admittedly to his companions - those in front of him being the only ones he'd thought to be victim of the sorcery. His boltgun raised as he fired the kraken rounds and came to his last six shots. Something gnawed at the back of his mind suddenly and he reached out towards Vera as though to beckon her to move back to safety, even as he took a step back in case the Beast was to do anything, his gaze going down the sights. It took him a moment to register what was happening, though. Why was Herchel trying to protect from the left? Vilhelm had the left; he'd have mentioned if there was additional foes, as everyone always did. A single bolt round soared out from his weapon before it hit him, the moment the shell had exited the barrel. He doesn't need to be close to use those sorcerous powers. Any action he'd have tried would have been too little too late - barely being able to glance over and take his hand off the boltgun's stock, not even able to reach out to gesture at his companion before a searing, blinding heat had overwhelmed him. He'd remembered the many pains he'd experienced, even those of being cut into or bashed upon, the stinging sensation of being too close to a battle cannon's shockwave - it had all paled in comparison, the blast itself transcending past agony and into sudden numbness. Marcus wasn't sure when he'd come to after that; suddenly finding himself on the floor some ways away, barely able to make out the blurry shapes of his companions. The cracked HUD gave him an overview that showed his shooting arm was 'critical', as was his legs and lower stomach-- in fact, everything was, but those were the major points. He wasn't sure if this was due to them being missing or needing immediate treatment, but he couldn't even muster the energy to raise his head. A brief glance over the HUD showed that he went from six shots to one now, a single kraken bolt round in the chamber, the number flickering in and out as the machine-spirit of his artificer plate struggled to stay active and keep its occupant alive through life support systems along with the hardy Astartes physiology. But even so, he knew that it couldn't hide the vitals themselves. A glance to the other side - a painful, torturously long motion with his eyes that the Apothecary admitted in this moment that he wasn't sure he could make - showed that his vitals were erratic. Extreme heartbeats from only one active heart, shaky breathing at best and a heavy amount of blood was lost before Larramann cells could have prevented it. Yet still, he saw it slowly go down, lower, and lower. Memories of Olympia went through his mind as his vision darkened - the skies, his ventures through the mountains as a boy. Memories of his trials as an Apothecary, how he'd met Herstius and Trevun one frantic evening, the scuffle that they'd come to his aid for. Memories of Xerxes and the rest of Seventh, all in one unit again. As his heartbeat amongst the vitals lowered, they never rose. Soon, Marcus of the Iron Warriors, Apothecary to Seventh Squad, saw his vitals go silent.
Sorrow, Rage, HATRED! - Herchel was able to curve his hammer to shove Vera out of the way of the shout, But as the sudden life rune disapearing and the sight of ones of his brother corpses going by and hitting the ground, Herchel felt soemthing overcome him, It was Sorrow, Rage and hatred something he hadn't felt so fiercly, so purely, up till now He felt it at the beginning at the heresy but he first felt something like this on a world they conquered long ago. Looking up to Cautirous speaking of plays gods, and nonsense that here brothers lives were nothing more then puppets to be played with Herchel felt the pure rage and hatred come unbound as he let out a snarl. "I'll SHOW YOU PERFECTION! ILL SHOW YOUR MASTER PLAY BY RIPPING OUT YOUR GUTS AND RIPPING YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS SON OF FULGRIM!" Herchel yelled his rage over taking him as he began first waddling then at a running jog forward. The Dragon Let out a roar Volkite and pyrovurst letting out a blue fire and red death, The hammer of Redemption skull sides up and ready to bash at Cautrious the enlightened to take him apart and destroy the monster who had taken such a old friend from him. OOC ALL OUT ATTACK ON CAUTARIOUS With combivolkite the dragon and the hammer of redemption
Kremnar Eranite strode forward, intent on inflicting as much damage upon the enemy as possible with his melee weapon, though still sound enough of mind to know that better astartes than him at melee held the field. Thus, while he didn't shy away from his intended actions, he also didn't rush in either. The momentary pause of the Emperor's Child allowed Sergeant Dyzek to close in with his lightning claws. The speed in which the Son of Fulgrim moved proved impressive, and he managed to take an arm from the Iron Warrior. Yet in his gloating, the sternguard veteran found his opening. Taking a step forward, Kremnar struck with the weapon. Cautorious looked surprised as the power scythe impaled itself deep into his chest. Pulling on the weapon, Kremnar made sure to drag it down on the way out, in order to inflict as much damage on the corrupted body of the enemy as possible. Nearby, Brother Seth grabbed their sergeant before putting himself between Dyzek and the enemy. The initial shock of the landed attack, followed by the sheer presence of several terminators engaging him in melee, resulted in a retaliation that never came for the sternguard veteran. Still wary, he continued his guard as he backed up, power weapon ready in hand and in defense. Only then had he noticed one of the life runes had gone black. Kremnar looked over, and the fallen body of Brother Marcus greeted his vision. Closing his eyes momentarily, time slowed to his perception at the sight of his dead brother. He had never been extremely close to the apothecary, but they had fought together over Istvaan, and again here on Terra. The sternguard veteran had glimpses of Marcus' heroics at the breach, where he saved countless lives. Now, to see a noble soul ended here, at the hands of this traitor was mostly lamentable. Elsewhere, he heard the raging roar of Brother Herchel, no doubt seeing the same corpse that he had laid his eyes on. In front of Kremnar, he could see Cautorious's saber puncturing Brother Seth's chest, only for Nathaniel to grab and slam the former astartes to the ground from behind. Whether it was due to time, or the sheer reality of one of his brothers, one of the last Iron Warriors, had fallen that snapped Kremnar out of his madness, he could not tell. However, the logic that formed in his mind about how fighting in melee was a good idea quickly dissipated, and he shook his head, clearing it. Range attacks, well-placed bolter shots were his specialty, not melee combat. He might be a veteran, but he was a sternguard veteran, not a vanguard. While that one strike had done plenty of damage to the enemy, his brothers paid for it with their bodies. Better to fall back on what he had trained countless times in, better to use what he was familiar with to exact vengeance. Checking that both bolters had a bolt in the chamber quickly, Kremnar raised them and unleashed another torrent of kraken rounds at the enemy, moving from cover to cover the entire time. No shouts of anger came from him, nor vows of vengeance. However, if one looked very carefully, they could see that within each bolt had a certain viciousness to them, a glint of murderous intent flying slightly faster towards their target, almost homing in on Cautorious as he flew through the air. After the clips emptied, the sternguard veteran popped them both out, before replacing his last clips into the bolters, taking a moment to readjust behind cover before coming out again, searching for his target once more. OOC: Balanced attack on Cautorious with kraken bolts. Defense on self. Equipment: 2/4 kraken bolts for bolters. 1 Dragonfire bolts for bolt pistol.
Vilhelm got control of his body back while haze from his shot was still in the air, and it didn't take too long to realize what happened. Accepting it, however, was far harder. He just killed one of his oldest comrades. Not of his own free will, but it was still a failure, he was able to resist any attempts on his will before, but failed where it mattered the most. Not trusting himself with the more powerful weapon anymore, Iron Master drops his Lascannon, to the floor, pulls out his axe and activates his personal teleporter to get close. Even if he fails, it was still better for his squad. OOC: Using teleport to get close, all-out attack with Omnissiah Axe, attack with Servo-arm, attack with Bolter.
Blood flew out of Seth's wounds and when he tried to speak, only thing that left his mouth was a wet gurgle filled with even more blood, but thankfully the advanced systems in his skull mask made sure he doesn't drown from it, the fluid led away and allowing him to breathe normally. Apothecary was dead or close to it, Dyzek was saved but for now missing an arm, and he was down on his knee, his heart ruined and leg injured. He suffered a grievous wound and it was quite possible that this is going to be the end of him as well, but he was damned if he was about to die like this. He was an Iron Warrior of Terra, he was born, he lived and he will die on his feet. Red rage, his old companion, was there with him as well, the words of the Emperor's Children and his magics were nothing compared to the primal savagery that burned in Seth's soul. And now, it was time to unleash it once again. Roaring like a madman of old, Seth lurched on his feet using whatever strength he had left and surged forward towards where he assumed Cautorious would land. He spotted that the power field of Warsong was busted but the teeth still whirled, meaning that the engine was thankfully working. Therefore he prepared to swing Gorehowl first and make the Centurion having to worry about it, hopefully force him to parry the blow of the powered Excoriator coming sideways into his flying form. Warsong would come afterwards, swung from below he aimed the man's groin and up, ugly attack that would spill the Centurion's intestines and once and for all, ruin the perfection. OOC All out attack + Bonus attack with Excoriators against Cautorious, 2 with Gorehowl and 1 with Warsong.
