The Legacy was finally done. Fitted with a faster engine, a lab, barracks for 300, a sick bay and the beginnings of a fighter bay, it was ready to serve as the base of our operations. Me and Scarlet collected some services to upgrade the gear of the cadre a bit, including a set of power armors for Sham, Scab and Gallia. I acquired an absolutely beautiful set of Ryza Pattern Plasma Pistols for myself, a real collectors' pair.
We researched a bit about the Tomb. It's a cavern planet, the surface reduced to nuclear waste from a planet bombardment during the Angevin Crusade. The tomb of Orendell is the center of the planet's population, a mere 5000 by the last official count. Every official resident is a custodian of the Ecclesiarchy, living in the settlement referred to as Orendell's Shield. These are all rather fanatical adherents of Saint Orendell (may The Emperor always Protect Him and Bless Him). There are mines on the planet, currently not operated. The operation of the mines is largely based on the political inclinations of the prelate. The current prelate, Volucianus, does not allow any mining.
We set up aliases for the entire cadre. I portrayed an average noble from Hilarion and a dedicated follower of Orendell. The others played various roles, either pilgrims or bodyguards. We took the Bounty and left the Legacy in space a few days away. We are greeted by a custodian (big surprise there) and told that there is one "inn" on the planet. Outrageously priced, of course. We are free to move around as we please. The caves to the rest of the planet are sealed off, but accessible by means of a special hover pod that can be rented (for about 5000000000 Thrones a day). There is a village of outcast pilgrims and mutants about 3 hours away, Lost Hope. The only other settlement is Rincodon, located next to a big underground lake. The inhabitants trade fish for other goods with the custodians.
We settle down in the inn, and explore the settlement. Pretty boring, and access to the tomb is naturally not allowed. After a few days, Dekko and Scab break into the offices of the port administrator and the prelate. Suspiciously, entries of a ship docking were removed in both places. The ship in question was named the Albacore, a support ship belonging to the Armageddon. They have paid the Tomb 4 visits, spaced 3 months apart. Each time they stayed for 14 days.
The settlement is infrequently plagued by sand storms. Being caught in the open can be deadly, so there are shelters spaced throughout the Shield. The inn also works as shelter. On the third day, one of these storms hit us. We discovered something quite interesting from one of the custodians during this time. Apparently, "Cardinal Umberto" was a part of the party from the Albacore and had asked for records of their stay to be deleted. The only problem is, I knew Umberto (May The Emperor Shine His Light Upon Him) to be dead 50 years...and that the monster Vestra has used his identity on previous occasions. Excellent. Perhaps we will have a chance to end him right here!
Kaid uses the scanning equipment aboard the Bounty to discover there are catacombs beneath the compound. We were unsure of how we would gain entry to them, so we hired a pod and started searching at random near the outpost. We spent 3 days without finding anything but some semi-aggressive local animals with huge tentacles. Disappointing.
We then decided to head out for Lost Hope and the mines. We approached the village, and Dekko and Scab snuck out and retrieved an old man living there. Interrogation revealed that the traded ore from the abandoned mines for food from the Shield. 6 months ago, he had seen a ship head towards the mines. We killed him, then set out for the mines.
On the way, several mutants passed us by, carrying ore manually. Arriving, we saw several other ex-pilgrims mining by hand with a pick axe. I bribed one of them, and he told us he had seen a ship arriving 3 months ago, flying "up there". "Up there" was evidently also where a monster was said to lurk named "Gromkalasch". Lovely. I guess there is no way but to go through this monster...
We asked the mutants who was the most knowledgeable among them with regards to the mines. Everyone tried to convince us they were the one of course. My bolters proved quite reliable in convincing them that lying was a bad idea. One of the mutants stepped forward, and we brought him into the pod. I told him he would be our guide going into the mines. He wasn't too thrilled about that, but reluctantly consented after being promised 50 Thrones.
We flew up into the shaft he pointed out. Apparently, the monster could make itself invisible (probably has good camouflage). To be certain that we weren't surprised by the beast, I "suggested" the mutant walk in front of the pod. I encouraged him by giving him a choice by doing so or being shot on the spot, and he complied. Even primitive mutants know the basics of math I guess; a 5% chance of survival is better than 0%.
The poor thing (I felt some remorse, if not much) walked nervously ahead carrying a small lamp to light his way. We followed at a safe distance. Sure enough, after a while he came running back towards us in a state of pure panic. We piled out of the pod and spread out, ready to face whatever this Gromkalasch was.
It was the biggest biological creature I have ever seen, alive or dead. Shaped like a giant, flying worm with an absurdly oversized maw and a tail complete with a massive spike at the end, it swooped down and gobbled down the mutant without breaking stride. We let loose with everything we have, Scab's heavy las in particular tearing huge gobs of flesh loose from the beast. Gallia was the chosen target, but with the aid of Drusus (May He Always Guide Us) we finished it off before she disappeared down its esophagus.
We moved onwards to one of the main corridors in the mines. Luckily, there was a map of the area there. We decided to move towards the emergency exit, since this was the most likely place for an elevator or other transitions between all levels. We were fumbling a bit in the dark, but gathered we were in the right place considering the sighting of the ship by the mutants a while back.
As we approached the exit, Dekko managed to spot a tiny camera just in front of the pod. His senses are truly becoming inhuman...The security camera turned out to be a new installation, confirming we were probably on the correct course.
We found a rather large room with an elevator in the middle. We decided Kaid would fly down and scout ahead, while we followed in the pod. We started on the 7th level. On the fourth level, he tripped an alarm. Alas, we were no longer cloaked in secrecy. On the third level, there was a gun servitor. Sham used the pod to zip past the machine without it noticing us. On level two, control machines were placed. And on level one, Kaid found 6 Ogryns in full battle gear, including autocannons...
We all went down to level two, where Kaid found a control pad for the elevator. He roused the machine spirit, and had the elevator go up, thinking the Ogryns would be trapped above us. Unfortunately, the elevator was too slow and as soon as they reached our level, the Ogryns opened fire. Sham managed to get the pod out of the way, but Kaid was hit by a veritable storm of bullets. By the grace of Orendell, he was close to the pod which shielded him somewhat, and he survived. He then sent the elevator up to the top level.
Kaid then spoke to the spirits of the control machines. He coaxed a very interesting log from them: instructions from the blasphemous Vestra himself, to a tech-priest leading operations in the mines. Apparently they were drilling to get below the temple of Orendell (His Light Shine On Us). And they were expected to be finished in 3 days, when Vestra and his associates would arrive. More chillingly, Vestra mentioned an 'it' which would 'handle' the custodians in Orendell's Shield. Afterwards, the residents of Lost Hope would need to be herded towards the Shield for their role in the ritual. The chaos worshippers are nothing if not predictable, so their role would obviously be sacrifice.
We found a pretty big stash of explosives in the storage room on the bottom level. You could practically see the glee shining in Sham's eyes. He and Kaid rigged a massive load of explosives to a personnel carrier. We sped along the mining tunnel, arriving at the drill in 3 hours or so. There were more Ogryns, 10-11 in all, as well as the tech-priest. After some consideration, we used one of the mining carts to protect the blast cart from being prematurely destroyed, and sped the things along on remote control. It worked perfectly, and the explosion erupted with a massive boom, fire and lots of smoke. After an hour, Dekko stole in to survey the scene. There was nothing left, and the drill would probably never work again.
We sped back towards Lost Hope, afraid that the herding was already underway. It was not, but a new contingent of unholy creatures were slaughtering the unfortunate mutants. 50-60 Human-sized beings in cloaks, shining with a sickly green light, were killing mutants by the hundreds. Their swords seemed to suck the essence out of everyone they killed. There were more Ogryns, as well as a truly frightening sight: a chaos marine. We had no chance against this band, and quickly sped around and headed towards the Shield.
Right before we arrived, a sand storm started brewing. I felt we needed to get inside, and Sham deftly steered us through the perils of the beginning storm. We docked at the port, then found our way to the inn through underground tunnels. We asked for a way to the prelate's building, but were denied access. Dekko searched around, but found nothing. I decided the time for secrecy was over, and revealed my true identity. Naturally, the innkeeper complied and led us to the prelate personally.
As soon as we entered the building, it was apparent something was terribly wrong. A custodian lay on the ground, killed by a single stroke and empty of all blood. The innkeeper sounded the general alarm, and we found more dead custodians. The prelate himself had been splayed out on the wall, his entrails leaking out of him (May The Emperor Guide Him Toward His Glory).
We rushed back to the inn, and found the culprit behind these horrid acts: what looked like a mere man at first. After a closer look, we could see he was wearing a vindicare assassin's outfit...but warp taint almost wafted from him, a cruel and sadistic grin plastered on his face. I shouted a challenge to him, he finished off a custodian with a flick of his wrist then charged us.
We were 6 battle-hardened veterans versus one man, and yet, this may have been the hardest fight we have faced. Without the intervention of Orendell himself, who clearly held his hand over me, I would have been dead several times over. As it is, I have a new saint I will dedicate myself to in addition to our Lord Drusus.
After a short but intense fight, Gallia's eviscerator clove into the holy warrior turned sacrilegious perversion, who momentarily displayed a touch of human emotion - panic - before being sucked into the warp. He was probably part of the cadre of one of the fallen Inquisitors...they have many sins to atone for. I pray that we capture as many of them as we can alive, so they will pay for their sins over and over before being released from their pitiful lives. I shall personally research whether there are any psychic powers which can prolong the life of a person to drag out their atonement period.
After the fight we were left to wonder what to do. Vestra would arrive in a few days, and there was a big contingent of unholy beings on their way to the Shield, although they would take their time on foot and probably not arrive before Vestra. We are 6. How do we face such despairing odds? Hopefully, we have time to rally the custodians, as well as bring the soldiers from the Legacy - that will leave us with a fighting chance at least.
In the aftermath of the battle with the demonhost, we assessed the status of Orendell's Shield. All in all, about half of the custodians had survived. We gathered everyone in a hangar they used for emergencies. They were, naturally, severely demoralized. When I informed them of the dangers we had yet to face, you could see all courage flee from them.
If there ever was a cakewalk of a speech, this was it for me. Religious fanatics? Check. Their relic and saint's body being threatened by heretics and Warp beings? Check. Nowhere to run? Check. An Inquisitor and Hierophant asking them to lay down their lives for the cause? Check.
We started planning for the assault we knew would come. We were unsure of what direction we'd be hit first, but concluded that it was likely Vestra would send in the ground troops first to clear the grounds before he deigned to arrive himself. Dekko and Sham flew out towards Lost Hope, and discovered that 800 or so of the camp's inhabitants had become further mutated by the hands of the chaos warriors. They were more or less charging towards the Shield, and would arrive within a day.
So we dug trenches behind the wall. Built secure spots in the camp. Lay contingency plans. Placed ourselves as best we could. And then they came.
A surging mass of Chaos-infested humans, with tentacles, claws, pincers and everything you can imagine in your worst nightmares. The chaos Marine behind them on a plated hover bike, yelling and egging them forwards. And the unknown Warp spawn at the end, their leader floating atop a pyramid of some kind.
We had discussed in advance how we would attack them. The first strike from us would be Dekko using one of his blessed ammo rounds (Emperor Guide Him) to penetrate the (supposed) shields of the pyramid-riding leader. The others up on the wall would then hammer him with their rounds, trying to down him while his defenses are down. After that...we expected a free-for-all, more or less. The custodians would be charged with dealing with the horde, while we concentrated on the beings and fallen battle brother. I would stay back in the administration building with a reserve of 50 custodians, to be placed as needed.
Amazingly, a plan lasted about as long as we expected it to. Dekko shot their leader, and he went down in a hail of bullets after that. The mutant spawn were engaged by the custodians and Gallia with her heavy flamer, raining glorious holy destruction down upon these dregs of humanity. Kaid took a horrible hit, but managed to stay alive. Sham and Scab engaged the flying platforms the warp beings were piloting, but had to evacuate after a while after getting under heavy fire.
We managed to down one platform, and then the rest of the beings started coming down to engage us directly as well. The Chaos Marine was eventually picked off by Dekko, who had settled himself into a cradle high upon the wall with a perfect view of the field.
In the end, we didn't lose anyone in the group, although several of us were heavily wounded. The custodians did what they were supposed to do - lay down their lives so that we might survive, and protect this holy place from the forces of Chaos. Perhaps 100 of them survived, all in all.
We spent some time healing the wounded custodians, as well as sending the ones who were too grievously injured into the Emperor's loving arms (Praise Be Unto Him and All Who Serve Him). Kaid went back to checking any signals they might send, as well as to give us advance warning of incoming missiles. The rest of us got some sorely needed sleep.
And sure enough, after 5 hours an incoming missile was spotted by Kaid. At the same time, our trusty feral worlders "felt" another sandstorm coming (probably in their bad leg or something). The custodians would not be able to evacuate in the pods with us, so they were forced to head into the crystal caves. We took the cutter and headed for Lost Hope. When we arrived, we searched for the trail of the missing Ogryns. They headed in the direction of the fishing village, Rincodon. We followed.
We arrived at a huge underground lake. After some cruising around, we found Rincodon. We talked to Lyago, the mayor, who was apparently elected by the populace. Very strange custom, and bound to fail sooner or later. As we were talking, the force of the impact of the missile was felt throughout the caves. The mayor told us they were around 100 veterans that could help us in fighting Vestra, as well as 2-300 others who could fight if necessary. They also had another alternative...a clan of Orcs, the Axebiters, had a colony here. These orcs weren't strict followers of Chaos. I was not convinced...and just then, a thought struck me. The Ogryns had probably gone in this direction to hire the Orcs! That, we definitely had to stop.
The mayor said there was a man of dubious character who might know where the Orcs lived. He was called Saldor and was the owner of a bar/whore house in the other part of Rincodon. Naturally, this was a mission for the lower classes, so Sham, Scab and Dekko were obvious candidates. Their mission was to find out where the Orcs lived. After the obligatory bribes, Saldor acquiesced to sending one of his personal Ogryn body guards with SSD in the cutter to find the orcs. As they approached, they saw that the orcs were in the process of looting the bodies (including the bodies themselves) of the Ogryns they had obviously just killed. Sham made a swerving maneuver and retreated. I did not trust the Orcs to be hired. Besides, I want nothing more to do with Xenos than absolutely necessary.
We took the cutter back to Lost Hope, and then to the Shield, for scouting. We discovered there was a huge sort of barrier around the Shield. Sham volunteered to go out into the sandstorm with Kaid, and after some testing popped through the barrier to have a look. The barrier was made out of some sort of Warp material, testing the mental fortitude of whoever breaches it. May the Emperor steel our souls and help us avoid the taint of the Foul Ones.
What Sham saw was rather discouraging. For the first time, we saw what Vestra looked like. His meddling with dark powers had tranformed into a huge monstrosity. 4 meters tall, a huge fang-filled maw and a constant, greenish hue surround him. He had a lot of followers with him. Around 70 former Imperial Guards, twisted into grotesque parodies of their former selves. Around 30 of the weird Xeno/Warp beings we encountered earlier. And the demonesque commisar we saw on Phagir. The surviving custodians had been ritually sacrificed (curse my softness - we should have disposed of them ourselves). In addition, 4 cutters that looked almost...alive patrolled the area.
The weird beings were using some sort of device to try to penetrate the Tomb directly. As Sham watched, Vestra conjured a huge ball of green Warp energy and flung it at temple - without effect. In frustration he lashed out, killing a couple of his own guards. Quite the charming man, I totally understand why they choose to work for him.
Sham reported back. I estimated they would breach the temple sooner or later, probably in 2-3 days. That meant we had to get backup soon, since travel from Rincodon would take a while.
We flew back to Rincolon, and told the mayor exactly what was happening. He agreed to help, provided we could convince the population. A natural opportunity for me to use my considerable oratory gifts. Meanwhile, Sham, Scab and Dekko would try to get more weapons from Saldor. As it turned out, he had quite a decent stash of weapons nearby. 100 lasguns, 100 autoguns, 3 heavy las and 2 heavy bolters. For sale for the charming price of 35.000, with the special Inquisition deduction. Of course, we could have just confiscated the gear...but a man like this would prove useful for Scarlet later. Drusus favors the ones who look ahead.
In addition, they got a map showing two additional star "ports" on the planet. One used by the orcs, and one used by a small smuggler community. Is there a single planet that doesn't contain nests of illegal activities dotted across it? I think not, if an actual shrine world has its share as well.
There was the matter of the Ogryns in Rincodon. Sham decided to try to recruit them. As it turned out, they had served on the Armageddon, but did not like what Vestra and crew had turned it into. They decided to go AWOL at first opportunity, and fled as soon as they arrived on Orendell's Tomb. They were absolutely willing to help us fight the good fight - and were eager to serve the Inqusition in the aftermath. Splendid.
They supplied us with further very useful information. They had the grid coordinates of the planet used for construction by the Conspiracy in the Halo Stars! Furthermore, they revealed that the Armageddon had been through a similar transformation as the cutters on the Shield...it is now a living thing rather than just a ship. A most scary thought, and I wonder what they sacrificed to achieve this.
Meanwhile, I held rallying speeches for the population of Rincodon, accompanied by their cleric, the mayor and Gallia. Everyone was scared and despondent, but on our side. They started evacuating in a decently orderly manner.
We had noticed rock particles falling from the roof when we arrived back the lake cave. Worryingly, ever greater particles, then smaller rocks, started falling. After a while, we saw huge slabs fall into the lake. As the evacuation was underway, a monstrous piece fell pretty close to Rincodon. A gigantic wave came crashing towards us. We got on the cutter and were safe, but one of their cutters and a sizable number of people vanished beneath the waters. Panic ensued.
Luckily, we had already evacuated the ones who would accompany us in the fight. The Emperor looks after the wolves - the sheep, as always, will be sacrificed as needed. Weakness will always fail while the strong remain to carry the Empire proudly onwards. This is simply an undeniable truth that should be embraced and accepted by all, as Drusus teaches us.
------- FORTSETTELSE FRA FORRIGE GANG -----------
While the storm kept raging, we made a trip to the mines to see if there was any armor we could forage. All in all, we found enough for about 50 of our veterans. Some of them were left only with piecemeal armor, but something is better than nothing. In addition, they would have access to the meat shields of the other fishermen. Hopefully that would serve well enough for our purposes.
After about a day, the storm subsided. We filled the cutters and transported the men as quickly as we could. I started on a rallying speech, but was cut short when Dekko, Sham and Scab discovered scouts from the Shield advancing on our position. We managed to kill them before they got back, but probably not before they had given warning. There was nothing to do but to move fast.
As it turned out, the bubble was gone, and the soldiers were getting into defensive positions. With no cover at all, we had no alternative but to charge. The Ogryns and the other heavy weapons downed the living cutters in a hail of laser beams and explosive rounds.
The rest of our men charged - around 50% died in the initial charge before they had reached the defenses. The carnage was quite gruesome, but I don't think any of my cadre even noticed. Such is the life of the Empire's finest, surrounded by mutants and the gore and entrails of our allies, that we barely even consider the human horrors experienced.
By now there was chaotic fighting going on everwhere, and we used the opportunity to rush through the perimeter, accompanied by the 10 Ogryns.We noticed that the weird Xenos were nowhere to be seen. In the middle of the square, a circular hole, the middle of a huge pentagram, was located. The sides were covered in a sort of ectoplasm that made my skin crawl - it was Warp itself, made physical. It didn't take much of an imagination to see who was behind this.
We lowered ourselves, thankfully without incident for any of us. We landed on the floor of what was obviously part of the tomb itself. A hallway led into the heart toward the coffin and the body of the Great Saint himself (Orendell, Shine Your Light Upon Us!). At the end, a huge set of double doors stood gleaming, covered in gold and jewels. One of the doors had been blasted inwards. Inside, we saw where the weird Xenos had taken their stand - all 30 of them.
Sham and Gallia charged the door while the rest exchanged some initial fire with the Warp scum. They got the door open, and I commanded the Ogryn to engage them while the rest of us rushed to the side and towards the coffin.
There, we found Vestra, accompanied by the former commisar Arcadius Faint and a tech-priest we had never seen before. Clearly the sacrificial body needed for the ritual. The coffin was surrounded by a sickly, green light, as were the two villains. There was nothing to do but to charge.
We were armed to the teeth, and Arcadius went down in a hail of bullets and a frenzy of power swords and roaring chains. Vestra proved a harder foe, as expected. While his physical form was frightening enough, he used sorcerous powers to attack us, sending waves of pure Chaos raging out of his misshapen body. For a moment it looked like we would be overpowered, but Orendell himself took this time to help us. A golden glow emanated from the coffin, shielding us from the worst of Vestra's radiance and filling our hearts with ferocious joy and song.
I can only imagine what the scene looked like from the outside. Scab and Kaid blasting round after round of bolter shells into the blob of a former man. Me using an autocannon for the first time in my life (that power armor is quite handy), guided by the hand of the Drusus (The Warrior Within). Dekko the direct opposite of us, preferring the precision of his rifle, doing as much damage with one shot as we did with 10. And finally Sham and Gallia, facing the fiend up close, ignoring the horrible, searing pain of his Chaos aura.
Such a battle will never last long, and neither did this. Sensing Orendell's support being overwhelmed by Vestra, we put every possible effort we could into felling the former holy man. Kaid managed a spectacular shot that almost blasted an arm clean off. Gallia cleaved huge gashes in his body with her holy Eviscerator. And finally, Orendell guided my hand - I could never have pulled off a shot like that by myself had I tried for a 1000 years. My last bullet pumped right into Vestra's skull, and he was sucked screaming into the Void. WE HAD WON!!!
Amazingly, no one died in the battle. Truly, if we ever needed proof that our God and Ruler (May He Live On Forever) and his saints (They Who Fortify Our Souls) stand behind us, this was it. I do believe even Kaid felt the holy power guiding us on that day.
Unfortunately, the Ogryn were all wiped out by Vestra's powers. Climbing out of the tomb, Orendell had guided his former pilgrims to victory, leaving around 50 of them still alive. Not surprisingly, we got an incoming missile warning shortly thereafter. The Albacore apparently felt like sending a parting gift, like the cowards they are. We rushed to the smuggler star port in our cutter, and escaped the planet minutes before it was rattled by a series of impacts.
We then made contact with the Legacy, which picked us up. The captain informed us that the Nebula Bounty had followed the Albacore into the Warp. Scarlet's crew may be shady, but they are not lacking in bravery. We decided to wait and nurse our wounds until the holy Battle Sisters arrived.
And arrive they did, a massive fleet of capital ships, after a couple of days. We were invited to main ship, were we were greeted like heroes (after initial skepticism) by the holy men. We earned ourselves powerful allies on that day, and the grand cardinal [glemte å skrive ned navnet] promised us I would have access to ships in our quest. As was clearly evidenced, Orendell himself supported us.
They decided to exhume the coffin of Orendell and bring it to safety - the planet was likely to collapse at any moment, making retrieval rather harder. After about a day, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the Legacy - and towards Scintilla.
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