40K/Inquisitor RPG. The Line of Damnation.

[The Yosemite Bear]

"The mon-keigh is moving again, he's in this section here!"

"There's more of those rot slaves, we'll need a distraction"

"how about "The Lady"?"

"have the Jesters create an opening, firing shriekers on those Rot slaves should suffice, the rest of us, MOVE!"

Outward a head taker thought he saw a slight blur, no one had yet really seen her, moving as fast as a bike, on her own feet, surrounded by holofields, the Eldar Solitare was a missile of assassination.

[Imperial Overlord]

The Golden Dawn had set up positions on all levels of the captured complexes, including the roofs. Their guns cracked as they poured las fire at the enemy. Heavy plasma guns and multilasers were set into place and began raking Imperial positions. Sometimes they missed and hit some of the Pox Brotherhood. That was fine with them too.

The storm teams of the Pox Brotherhood had moved into the next line of complexes. They held the breaches open for their brethren and began the brutal struggle against the Imperials to take the massive buildings. Most of the defenders were civilians who had recieved merely days of training. PDF and Arbites troops stiffened their ranks. They were well positioned and not inclined to give up.

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

"My Lord," Malikus said through the vox, "I have arrived."

Gathor responded. "Status."

"The Imperials are stubborn, but we are making progress. The Imperial troops are a pain, but they aren't able to stop us. The Harlequins are a non-factor. They have killed a few hundred of us, but we kill them when we find them. Their activities are not being coordinated with the Imperials. They are here for some purpose of their own."

"Good enough. Concentrate on the Imperials and kill the weakling eldar when they cross your path. They are of secondary importance."

"Understood, my lord. Victory over the corpse worshippers. The eldar are merely targets of opportunity." The dreadful general turned towards the Skull Takers. "Ready your company. When the line of advance is secured, you will spearhead the attack on their headquarters."

"Your will," came the response, brutal and unfeeling.

Malekus switched channels. "Tell the Golden Dawn to begin security patrols. The Harlequins may be attempting sneaky within our lines. If so, our sorcerers will find them. Have the Pox Brotherhood continue to press forward."

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

A troop of PDF soldiers trotted after Prius. "Commissar-Colonel!" the sergeant yelled out. "You'll need to rearm if you are going back out there. And some support to make sure you have enough impact."

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Jolan shivered. He was out of his league. He had feared that from the moment he had begun this plan, which was why he had wanted Talstrem and Adivan with him. He had wanted the win. He triggered a control. Stimulants were injected into his bloodstream, as well as the psychic amplifying drug Spook. He needed all the strength the drug would give him, not that he thought it would be enough.

Several troopers opened up with hellguns and a plasma gun. Hethor raised his own weapons to open fire. A psycannon or runestaff would be very useful right now. Jolan would have to make do.

He raised his force rod and unleashed a terrible blast of psychic flame. Iridiscent green witchflame flashed forward. If Jolan had been outmatched before. He had not given up then and he would not give up now.
"

[Typhonis 1]

Nathan sighed so far he had learned a valuable lesson ...one that could get him shot if he voiced it aloud." the emperor has a twisted sense of humor...yes he has a sense of humor why else would my plan to help Gix have puit me in a location near to the kommisar?'


He slid forward and stoped he felt something in his mind a prescene a dark spot.Frowning he concentrated on it and crushed it mercilessly then moved on.Best to be elsewhere when the sorcerors went to check whom had slain one of there own.

He idly wondered if the good Commodore was doing well as he slid into a crevice, the ruined roof slanted downward proiding sme cover from above.He loooked out of a slit and was shocked.He watched as a storm of color engulefd a triator guardsmen and left him.He fell bonelessly to the ground.

'What in the name of the Emperor was that???It ...no...couldn`t be....what are Harlequins doing here?'

[Petrosjko]

Carnis studied the readouts. The resistance was managing to tie down an astonishing amount of enemy resources. Enough so that the invasion itself was proceeding well ahead of plan and schedule. It was costly, brutal and expensive, but then wars always were, and planetary invasions of occupied hive worlds even more so.

The convoy vessels had already departed, under minimal escort, winging their way back to Adraxis to collect the next load of troops.

He studied the displays a moment longer.

"Display available air support assets," he ordered. A new readout flickered to life, showing the status of the aerospace squadrons under his control. They had taken a bit more of a beating, from the air defense and the otherwise unoccupied aircraft of the archenemy. But there, as well, they had a momentary surplus of strength. As ground troopers had largely seized the anti-orbital defenses of the Hive Tercius, the remaining fleet was able to safely maintain a low geosynchronous orbit over the hive and deliver devastating volleys in support of the ground troops. Even as he thought that, the ship vibrated slightly under his feet from another outbound fire mission.

"Pull the 2123rd Recon squad," he said. "Task them with an overflight on the Hive Primus. They are to conduct an open channel broadcast bearing the news of the landing at the Hive Tercius, and our successes there, and attempt to establish contact with Inquisitors Varian, Novum, or Colonel-Commissar Ristani, for the purpose of directing fire support in support of the combatants in the hive. Reserve the 315th Adraxian Attack Wing the 1118th Strike Wing for support missions."

He stopped, giving a ferocious yawn and rubbing his eyes, continuing as he finished the yawn. "And assign the Screaming Falcons for top cover..."

Rynthis waited as the orders were processed, then sidled over to him and spoke softly. "I've got a cot in the ready room. You need at least a couple of hours off, general."

Carnis stared at his aide. "You're right, Ryn. Wake me in two hours, alert me if any drastic changes occur before then." He turned and addressed his XO. "Pral, I'm off for two hours. Don't give up the planet."

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The 2123rd blazed toward the Hive Primus, a stream of high-speed craft tearing overhead, sonic booms trailing in their wake. Auspex and visual data fed into their machine spirits, recording heat signatures, emissions, and life signs. From their voxes crackled a message, as composed and spoken by a shipboard commissar, blanketing as many vox-frequencies as they could.

"Citizens of Cyrus Gamma! The day of liberation has come! Even now, forces of the God-Emperor are seizing control of the Hive Tercius! The night has ended, and the light of the Emperor returns to those who hold the faith! Strike now, rise against the heretics and mutants who tried to tear your world away from His word! Suffer not the unclean to live, and tear the usurpers from their stolen thrones!"

Additionally, lost in the general message was an encrypted message keyed to specific vox frequencies for the two inquisitors and Prius Ristani.

------------------------------------------
Prius nodded at the general, and paused to rearm. He traded his lasgun in for a hellgun that they'd acquired Emperor-only-knows where, probably off the body of one of his Swordsmen, clipped a power maul to his waist to accompany his chainsword, and gathered some grenades.

He looked at the PDF troopers. Hardened men, he could see the fear in their eyes. But they had proven they could face the daemons that had stolen their world simply by surviving this long. They would do, for his purposes.

Suddenly, his internal vox triggered, as the channels began repeating the message from above. He subvocalized a quick code sequence, verifying in theory his survival and freedom from enemy custody, then his voice rose.

"Yes, by the Emperor."

He turned and stalked back toward the command center. "What would you say to some deep penetration bombs, General?"

Air support was problematic in a hive, but the Imperium did have weapons that could do the job, if properly directed.

The Emperor always tends to the faithful!

====================
Tendao gestured casually. Lesser weapons were simply deflected or absorbed by an iridescent shield that materialized before him. One hand played across the back of the chaos commander, while the other weaved arcane patterns through the air.

Jolan's blast made some impression on the shield, but came nowhere near penetrating.

Sudden gaping rents opened in the floor, swallowing men into pitch darkness... or worse. The warp was touching upon this place, and hellish screams could be heard from the holes, though nothing could be seen of their victims.

"Your Emperor is no more a god than you are, man-thing-Gix. An Inquisitor knows well all the lies that prop up your rotting corpse of an Imperium, and the divinity of your Corpse-God is simply another one. He will not save you here."

[Imperial Overlord]

Kalif considered. "The hive skin is armoured against the elements. Air support had directly affect the spires, which are on the outer hull. If they have enough strength, they can attack the enemy held fortress-spires. Bombing this area will probably be counter-productive. Landers could pour reinforcements directly into the Courthouse spire." She considered her options. "And they can bomb enemy assets in the Gap, as the hive shell is breached in that area."

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Meanwhile, the streetfighting was continuing to take thousands of lives. The Pox Brotherhood pushed up into middle of the vault, at a terrible cost. Behind them, the heartless soldiers of the Golden Dawn moved up behind them. Psychic flame, plasma beams, and las blasts were unleashed against the Imperial defenders.

Down on the front line, viscious close quarters fighting tore through the huge buildings. Autoguns slew and shotguns shredded flesh. Chainswords and shock mauls struck down the guilty and the innocent. Hundreds of heroes died unnoticed and unremembered. Insane acts of valor and basest cowardice flurished. Death took them all, uncaring.

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Jolan shouted defiance. It helped to focus his will as he raised his power sword and advanced on the dreadful foe. He saw plasma from Hethor's gun splash off Tendao's shield. He roared. "Your boasting disguises your fear! You are nothing but a coward! You have already surrendered to it and surrendered everything to prevent it! And you condemned yourself to a worse fate!"

Gix lashed out with a lance of ravening psychic flame. If he would fall against this foe, he would do his best to take it with him.

[Petrosjko]

Prius shook his head. "No landers for the moment. But we can direct the vox spirits to communicate directly, so you can coordinate fire as needed."

He stepped forward, reaching down down to a portable vox station and adjusting it quickly. While he hadn't the faintest clue how the spirit that animated it worked, he could perform basic operations with it.

Lifting the earpiece, he made a signal check, then spoke quickly, passing fire control authority along to the general.
=================
"Surrendered to it? Man-thing, I AM of the warp."

Tendao rose to his full height, terrible light spilling from his eyes. Casting his hands outward, he lashed out with a wave of force that slammed all but those in Gix's immediate shielded vicinity against the wall.

"I knew my name before your precious Emperor came to be. You came here knowing not what you faced, Jolan Gix."

He strode forward, shafts of light erupting from his skin as he exerted his true power.

"I am no crude mutant flesh thing. I am the warp incarnate."

[Imperial Overlord]

The bloody struggle continued on the streets and in the buildings. Above them a half kilometer of hive seperated them from corrosive air and tearing winds of the planet's hellish atmosphere. If the shell of the hive was removed, any who looked up would see the distant lights and flashes as aircraft and space vehicles fought each other just as desperately in the sky as soldiers did on the ground below.

As the Pox Brotherhood pushed forward, their assault units were reinforced with a terrible new cadre. Few in number, but awesomely deadly, the Plaguebearers of Nurgle had entered the fray. The Plague Priests had made good use of the wounded and unconscious troops from both sides that had been given into their hands. Their terrible sacrificial rights had brought seven squads of seven into the battle.

The disgusting humanoids were build like men. Their flesh was corrupt and their mouths were full of fangs. A great cyclopean eye peaked out beneath a horn in their forehead. Their hands clutched a rusted blade that cut through ceramite like moldy cheese. Their speed, strength, and resilience was superhuman. And they carried with them the unholy power of the warp.

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

A daemon prince or a greater daemon. And Jolan had no psycannon or psykout grenades. The only force weapon in his possession was his force rod, the least effective in hand to hand combat. He possessed no pentagrammic wards or holy devices. And the monster's psychic power was great.

Jolan had one edge though. He had nothing to lose, no reason not to hold back. The full power of mind blasted through the force rod, backed by all his desperation. He leapt forward to attack, totally on the offensive. Power sword and force rod were raised to strike.

There was another factor that the young inquisitor was not thinking about. A mere mortal, a veteran of the Imperial Guard, not a superhuman space marine or mighty psyker. A mortal that Tendao had treated with contempt, but had not fallen when struck. Hethor dropped his useless gun and drew the hilt from his equipment harness. The power blade crackled to life as he struck at Tendao's side. If there was one thing Hethor D'eckor was good at, it was killing.

[Stormbringer]

The arbites hastily assembled some crude barricades and breastworks. Two heavy stubbers and an autocannon were set up behind them as PDF troopers crouched down and readied their weapons. Las bolts flickered from the approaching mass. Most missed. A few didn't.

The Imperials fired back with lasguns and rifled shotgun slugs. Then one of the stubbers started up and then the other. Tracers and lasbolts flickered through the darkness. With a roar the autocannon began firing.

Their was a flash of blue-white light and the autocannon exploded, it's operator reduced to char by the intense plasma wash. Another PDF trooper flopped from a las hit to the face. A breastwork exploded from another plasma strike. The enemy continued marching forward over the bodies of their dead. "REAV-OR!"

Krak grenades, the last of them, flew over into the enemy ranks. Behind it the Arbite steeled themselves for one last mad charge. Power mauls were readied and the few PDF troopers that hadn't, fixed bayonets. This was going to be nasty.

"Let the Reavor come forward so we may do justice unto him!" Varian cried as he let another shot fly with the plasma pistol. When the enemy dared show his face, the men would charge.

The enemy showed themselves, just a bit but hopefully enough. With that the men of the Imperium charged forward, Varian in the van.

[Petrosjko]

Having established the general in control of their newly gained air support, Prius again legged it, taking his squad out. He listened to the vox chatter, comparing it to the image in his mind of the holoslate, adjust his mental picture of the disposition of the battle.

As far as he was concerned, they weren't there to augment the defense, they were there to pitch in on some heretic's flank and give him a hard time.

And also to cast about for either Varian, Pater, or most importantly Nathan. The inquisitors were all brave and able warriors, but he didn't trust anyone else to protect them properly.

========================
Jolan Gix was mighty indeed. To the mere blunt, he was as a god, in personal power and Emperor-gifted authority.

To Tendao, ancient daemon of the warp, he was little more than a child. A powerful child, though. The force rod's augmented smashed into his shield, which bowed under the directed pressure, but ultimately held. The backsplash of the psychic storm thus unleashed washed through the room, spontaneously combusting clothing, flesh, and even the inflammable rock of the floor, in places.

On his own, it would not have been enough. Tendao would have crushed his opponent. No child of woman could stand against his malevolent attention, when it was focused upon them.

But it was that intense focus that opened the way for a veteran Guardsman, similarly fueled by the suicidal zeal of his leader and a burning rage to kill rather than being killed. Hethor's powersword drove through the shield, slowing greatly, but still striking home upon Tendao's purloined flesh. As the daemon parried Gix's paired strikes with bone-jarring force, Hethor's blade opened a glowing cut upon his side, warp-energies streaming out. With a scream that echoed across the audible ranges and the highest levels of the immaterium, Tendao turned and cast his hand out at Hethor, a stream of warpfire streaking toward the former Guardsman.

[Typhonis 1]

Nathan watched the Herlequin squad move on to the next sector and sighed. He got up and dashed corrs the intersection to the next building, survival meant carefull movement and he knew how to be sneaky.

The sewers were out of the question even now he bet hunter killer teamsd were wading around down there....kill anything that moves to be safe was there motto.He hunkered down and pulled a map out scanniong it carefully. He had managed to sneak away from the fioght for the factory and was currently heading back to the webwy.Once there he would see if he could find an exit nearer to Jolan and help him out.


He froze as someones thoughts brushed his mind.He scanned it carefully sand smirked.He sent a message to the bright spot.


<< Greetings Kommisar I see you are doing as well as always keep up the good work... Talstrem out>>

He picked himself up and moved out quickly one of thewse days ,he mused, I will break down and buy me one of those nice Land Speeders...or better yet commandeer me one.

[Petrosjko]

At once his heart lifted and his blood chilled. Nathan was here.

"Nathan, where are you? I've got troops, I'll come and get you."

That there might be enemies in the way didn't trouble him in the least. Nothing would come between him and his inquisitor.

[Imperial Overlord]

Varian was lucky. The battalion of the Golden Dawn coming down the tunnel at his positon hadn't attached the viscious combat blades (far too ornate to really be bayonets, but they were functional enough) to the long barrels of their lasguns. Their plasma weapons were still recharging from blasting his defences. And the flamer and melta gun troopers were further back.

So he and his force merely faced massed vollies of las fire. The model favored by the Golden Dawn was long range and hard hitting. It's low cyclic rate meant they only got a few shots off at the attacking force as they crashed into the line. But half of his troops were gunned down before they made it. Flak armour wasn't enough protection and even carapace armour could fail under those guns.

The survivors cut down the first rank of the heretic troopers with ease. The Golden Dawn's armour was respectable, but their weapons were unwieldy in close quarters. Bolt pistols, shock mauls, gun stocks, and bayonets felled the enemy. Body's pilled up around Varian in moments as men fought to live in the confined space.

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

Prius Ristani could sense Nathan's presence. He was behind enemy lines, in a factorium complex already overrun and being used as a staging area for another on the Imperial lines. The Pox Brotherhood were massing their for another, inevitable assault and the Golden Dawn were moving up to turn it into an improvised fortress.

The enemy must have missed him in their haste to move through that huge, multilevel structure. They wouldn't be looking to secure every nook and crany. But the troops of the Golden Dawn who were moving up would. It was only a matter of time before sweeper teams scoured that building. And Nathan would have to find an enemy horde. Alone. Unless Prius Ristani did something about it.

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Fire was Jolan's element. Beyond the telekinetic arts, his gifts were limited. He could barely manage to communicate telepathicaly with another psyker. He could manage a little precognition and divination and he had begun to study the ardius art of daemonology and if he lived, he might one day have some skill at that art which aimed to directly manipulate aspects of the warp itself. But he did not have Prius Ristani's biomancy arts that would enhance his prowess to superhuman levels and heal his injuries. Those skills, the powers sometimes refered to as Hammerhand and Warp Strength, might have allowed him to confront the daemon on a more equal footing. But he lacked those. And now the daemon unleashed warp fire against Hethor, who he had avoiding thinking about because the daemon was obviously able to read even his disciplined, shielded mind. Fire.

It was an unconscious reaction. Jolan had wrapped a feeble psychic shield around Hethor, but it would not resist the flame. The fire twisted under Jolan's influence, a direct hit turning into a glancing blow. Hethor's conversion shield flashed sun-bright as it converted heat into light. Ceramite plate distributed the heat away from the point of impact. It shattered anyway.

Hethor felt agony brush across his chest. It didn't stop him. He followed up his first strike with a second, intending to sever the hand that had struck at him.

As Hethor struck, so did Jolan Gix. Adrenilen and drugs had pushed him to the point where he seemed to soar past his previous limits. His power sword struck at Tendao's leg, just below the hip as he blasted the possessee in the chest with a lance of brilliant green warp fire.

[Petrosjko]

Prius began reaching out, locating hostile presences that stood between him and Nathan, correlating them with the map in his mind. He quickly selected a route that would allow them to sweep through with the utmost haste and checked his weapon once more.

Settling his course and checking his weapon took approximately five seconds. He turned toward the troops and spoke two will-enhanced words.

"Follow me."

==========================
The power field of Hethor's blade clashed with Tendao's daemonic aura as his hand swiveled in a way that no human could imitate, the blade slamming into his palm.

His long fingers closed around the blade, warp energy pouring from the wound it opened on his palm, and suddenly cracked it like a whip, hurling Hethor away.

His shield resisted yet another force-rod enhanced blast, but it was obviously weakening. Gix's sword-blow landed on his hip, opening a savage wound. He roared and slammed his wounded palm into Gix's chest. The blow would have shattered an unprotected human's body, but the armor and conversion field mitigated the effect... somewhat.

Suddenly, weak shots lashed out, lasguns. The surviving penals had arrived, and while several of them froze in horror at the sight of the daemonhost, a couple found the courage to open fire upon him. Las fire pattered off of Tendao's daemonic shield, hardly making any sort of impression.

[Imperial Overlord]

The first leg of Ristani's mission was easy: pass through friendly lines. It took two minutes at a fast jog for his to reach the closest building to Nathan still in friendly hands. That was the easy part.

The enemy assault troops were already attacking the building ahead and Nathan was even further away. A direct approach would mean either going through the killing ground that was the city streets or fighting his way through enemy assault troops in the next building, push into enemy territory, link up with Nathan, and fight his way back to safety. Or he could try something unconventional.

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Hethor's conversion field didn't trigger. The whip of warp energy was only slightly impeeded by Jolan's screen and it's force sent him spraling. The multicoloured energy lash shattered part of his breatplate. It sliced open the mesh shirt he was wearing underneath and ruptured his lung.

That should have put him down. It didn't. Hethor raised his plasma pistol and fired at the abomination's head. The full power beam scored a direct him.

Jolan struggled to raise his arm. His chestplate had been cracked by the force of Tendao's blow. Jolan had hit the floor with enough force to daze him, but not to stop him. The inquisitor still had strength left to fight. He would burn up the last shard of soul before he gave up. He raised his force rod and unleashed another devestating flame lance.

[Petrosjko]

Unconventional was not exactly Prius' strength. His training as a commissar had revolved around the very straightforward approaches in keeping with Imperial doctrine, i.e., throw bodies at the enemy until they ran out of strength, with the commissars acting as the whips to drive the men forward.

But in the interests of saving Nathan, he could find a way to improvise. He looked up at the massive exhaust stack from a refinarium nearby, and looked at his PDF squad.

"Who here is the best with explosives?"

He gestured at the stack.

"I want that to land on that building," He pointed at the building Nathan was in "In such a fashion that we can use it to quickly transit across."

If it didn't work, the frontal approach was always still available, and he would simply cut through the bastards until he made it.

====================
The blasts were finally telling upon Tendao's defenses, as his concentration became divided. His essence was threatening to leak out of his open wounds as his host became damaged.

Regardless of their success or failure, the pair had already managed to greatly shorten Tendao's time upon the plane of normal space by so damaging his physical form. And now, the hellish discharge of plasma washing across his shield combined with yet another force blast from Gix managed to hammer through. The daemonhost fell back screaming, ancient and horrendous words tearing from his inhuman throat. The lasguns fell silent as the touch of chaos froze even the braver of the penal legionaires, while the weaker minds among them shattered irrevocably, falling into whimpering, gibbering hysteria.

[Stormbringer]

Varian drove forward, power blade flashing. It was a blind melee, the Imperials fighting simply because the enemy lay before them. The blind fury of battle driving them, the only goal to push forward.

Varian, no military man, simply drove forward in the hopes of hitting something worthwhile, of hurting the enemy. Cautiously he probed out with his mind, searching for friend or foe.

[Imperial Overlord]

Varian reached out a found nothing but malice ahead of him. Behind him he felt fear, resignation, and fidelity. In front . . .in front something noticed. His probes had been sensed. A shroud was was torn away in the warp, revealing thousands of hostile minds coming down the tunnel at him. Thousands of cruel, ruthless, ambitious minds. Servants of Tzeentch. He had merely engaged their vanguard. Strands of laughter drifted his way in the warp and the sorcerer-lords of the Golden Dawn let him see the awful might gathered before him.

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"First company is falling," said Sorcerer-captain Dragal. "They enemy will finish them in moments. Open up with flamers. Let them taste Tzeentch's fire. One of them has a strong soul. I want him to feel pain and despair as he dies."

"Your will," said the stocky sergeant. He never liked First Company anyways. He advanced to the front ranks, who had attached combat blades and whose special weapons troopers had readied their flamers and meltas. "Burn 'em," he ordered.

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Gix rose to his feet and raised both hands. A corona of silver fire engulfed him, too bright for human eyes to bear. "In the Emperor's name, I abjure you!" The psychic flame rolled off of him in a wave and washed over Tendao.

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"I can blow it sir, but there are some hostiles on the roof." Sure enough, a dozen members of the Pox Brotherhood were on the roof of the target building. They exchanged fire with neighboring buildings. Even as Prius looked, one of the accursed heretics fell back with half of his head blown off.

[Stormbringer]

Varian reached out a found nothing but malice ahead of him. Behind him he felt fear, resignation, and fidelity. In front . . .in front something noticed. His probes had been sensed. A shroud was was torn away in the warp, revealing thousands of hostile minds coming down the tunnel at him. Thousands of cruel, ruthless, ambitious minds. Servants of Tzeentch. He had merely engaged their vanguard. Strands of laughter drifted his way in the warp and the sorcerer-lords of the Golden Dawn let him see the awful might gathered before him.

Determined to die fighting, he reached out and seized the taunting minds. Trained to fight off the daemons of the Warp, he would not give into despair so readily. He latched the talons of his mind upon the stronggest mind he found and proceeded to drive his will into it with all possible strength.

[Petrosjko]

Prius smiled coldly. "Then we will kill them. It is of the utmost importance that we make it there. Now move."

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Tendao screamed again, the bonds that tied him to his host snapping as Gix's latest attack roiled over him.

Blood, fire, vile liquids of unknown origin, all erupted from their surroundings, showering the room.

At the last a mocking whisper, a surprisingly calm one, touched Gix's mind.

"Forever will you doubt, man-thing, whether this was merely another facet of the grand design."

A sudden fireball erupted from the daemonhost as his physical form shattered, warpflame incinerating the unprotected. His death-scream echoed across the immaterium, touching every mind on the world that had some connection to the warp.

For most it was a sudden, slight stab of pain or twinge of discomfort. For the more sensitive, it was the psychic equivalent of being blasted with a spike of pure, hellish noise.

Left in his wake was a simple necklace, one that radiated pure, ghastly malice. It clattered to the floor, ringing in the sudden silence.

=======================
Prius suddenly grunted, grabbing his ears as he sagged to his knees, his expression contorted with pure agony. Even with his hexagrammatic ward, the sudden shock of the death scream was momentarily dehabilitating.

[Imperial Overlord]

Prius's soldiers executed their orders. The sound of the explosive charge going off was lost in the din of battle. The factory stack falling across the gap was more difficult to ignore. The a thunderous clang, the Pox Brotherhood was introduced to Ristani's plan by the lowering of his improvised bridge. Murderous fire from his soldiers hosed down the heretic soldiers on the roof.

So far, so good.

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To challenge the leading sorcerer of this regiment of the Golden Dawn to psychic combat was recklessness verging on madness. Or supreme confidence back by a ruthless will. Varian unleashed his strength against the corrupt heretic and they met in the Sea of Souls.

The sorcerer was cruel, cunning, and devious. But his was the strength of one who had contempt for everything while Varian's was faith alloyed with ruthlessness. The heretic was strong. The inquisitor was stronger. In a brutal surge, Varian tore his foe's soul assunder. The backlash caused Dragal to explode, drentching his soldiers with blood and fire. The effort brought Varian to his knees.

He looked up to see his troops mowed down by las fire. One was blasted instantly to ash by a melta blast. Two soldiers moved to shield the inquisitor. Dragon mouthed weapons vomited clinging fire over them all. Varian knew agony, then darkness, and then unconciousness. The Golden Dawn advanced over a pile of Imperial corpses.

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Jolan staggered up. He had survived. So had Hethor. He looked around. The garden was blackened and charred. Most of the floor was gone. And all of his soldiers were dead. At least the enemy would have trouble gettiing at them.

He picked up the necklace. Dangerous to take, even more dangerous to leave behind. Jolan kept moving. Heretic techs in the next room attempted to stop them. A half a dozen rounds from his bolt pistol rendered them so much meat. The plan wasn't done yet.

The equipment was Imperial standard, undoubtedly used by the Imperial Government for the same purposes. Jolan was familiar enough with it to get them working in a minute or so. His voice was beamed throughout the planet, his image shown from every projecture. The heretics had had their own propoganda needs.

His voice was cold and unforgiving. "This is Inquisitor Jolan Gix. Your warlord is dead. I speak to you from his headquarters. I have delivered him up to the Emperor's justice and the rest of you shall follow." That should do to stir up the hornet's nest.

He activated his own vox to the fleet. "This is Jolan Gix. Two to pick up from the commander's spire." Then he turned to see to Hethor as best as he could.

[Stormbringer]

To challenge the leading sorcerer of this regiment of the Golden Dawn to psychic combat was recklessness verging on madness. Or supreme confidence back by a ruthless will. Varian unleashed his strength against the corrupt heretic and they met in the Sea of Souls.

The sorcerer was cruel, cunning, and devious. But his was the strength of one who had contempt for everything while Varian's was faith alloyed with ruthlessness. The heretic was strong. The inquisitor was stronger. In a brutal surge, Varian tore his foe's soul assunder. The backlash caused Dragal to explode, drentching his soldiers with blood and fire. The effort brought Varian to his knees.

He looked up to see his troops mowed down by las fire. One was blasted instantly to ash by a melta blast. Two soldiers moved to shield the inquisitor. Dragon mouthed weapons vomited clinging fire over them all. Varian knew agony, then darkness, and then unconciousness. The Golden Dawn advanced over a pile of Imperial corpses.

Seeing the Inquistor go down, Chastener Pheppos realized that things were falling apart. His men had held but now they were all being cut down, cut to ribbons. Whatever had happen the air was heavy with the psychic energy. It wouldn't do to stay.

"Fall back, grab the Inquisitor and fall back!"

Two Arbites, armor pitted and scorched moved forward, grabbed the Inquisitor roughly and began withdrawing. A few hardy souls formed the rearguard, less the withdrawl turn into a rout.

[Imperial Overlord]

Las bolts flashed down the tunnels. The lasfire was intense. Carapace armour failed under a barrage of hits. Ten men died just getting to Varian. Another four died covered the withdrawl back to their fortifications. Las fire covered the advance of melta and flamer armed troops. As Varian was taken to the rear, the defenders of the barracade burned under the Golden Dawn's hellish assault.

The arbites sped him back through another line of tunnel fortifications leading back to the spire. Varian's wounds were severe. Even if he lived, he would carry these wounds for the rest of his life.

[Stormbringer]

"Set satchel charges, collapse the tunnels. We can't let them in!" The young chastener ordered. The few reargaurd left would be martyred, there was no help for it.
_______________________________________________________________

Varian stirred, mind numbed by the pain. The last he remembered was the warp hell-scape. And then oblivion.

"What happened?"

[Petrosjko]

Recovered, Prius led the charge across the stack. He drained the power cell on the hellgun with a wild barrage of unaimed suppressive fire, his free hand drawing his chainsword. As he reached the end of the stack, he hurled the hellgun away in order to draw his power maul. With a weapon in each hand, he leapt into the midst of the surviving Golden Dawn warriors, lashing out at any enemy that came into reach.

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Chaos reigned throughout the palace grounds. With Tendao's presence removed, ambitious members of his court who had survived the initial assault were already moving against each other to vie for the newly opened leadership position. Fighting broke out among at least a half dozen contenders, each marshalling the surviving members of the defensive forces and their own retinues as they tried to take advantage of the downfall of the daemon.

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"General."

Carnis' eyes snapped open. He blinked a couple of times, then yawned. "Wha?"

"Inquisitor Gix initiated a planet-wide transmission from the governor's palace. The usurper is dead."

"Thank the Emperor. Can we pull him out?"

"Retrieval is enroute."

"Shift whatever air cover they need to that sector."

[Typhonis 1]

Nathan stood up and shook his head.hHe had felt the assault as had everyone else. His instincts screamed at him to move NOW .He did so as part of the wall collapsed and a chimney of all things crushed it.


He was weak and drained from the constanbt fighting but he kept going on. Tweo golden dawn warriors moved into the room and he shot them dead with the last energy in his plasma pistol. He drew his sword and entered into a stance as another one entered the room.


Nathan spoke only one phase as he surged forward "Imperius Rex"